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(Reuters) – Eli Lilly and Co on Wednesday said its drug Cyramza met the main goal of helping patients live longer in a late-stage trial, which tested it as a potential treatment for the most common type of liver cancer.

The drug was tested as a single therapy in a select population of liver cancer patients who were intolerant to, or worsened despite, treatment with Bayer AG’s targeted cancer drug Nexavar.

Cyramza also met a secondary goal of delaying progression of the disease hepatocellular carcinoma.

The patients showed high levels of a protein called alpha-fetoprotein, a trait shared by about half of all advanced liver cancer patients, the company said.

Lilly said it intends to begin filing for marketing approval of the drug for the liver cancer indication in mid-2018.

The drug, which earned Lilly $204.8 million in the latest quarter, is approved in the U.S. to treat other forms of cancer including stomach cancer and a type of lung cancer.

Reporting by Tamara Mathias in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber

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