FDA Advisers Back Drug for Kidney Cancer

WASHINGTON — A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee said Friday that a new drug to treat kidney cancer patients can have dangerous side effects but should be made available.

In clinical tests, interleukin-2 reduced the size of cancerous tumors in 15% of patients, but it also caused severe toxic reactions in most who took it. The treatment was believed to have contributed to the deaths of 4% of the patients.

The advisers recommended approval by a vote of 7 to 1.

The National Kidney Cancer Assn. says the drug is the most effective treatment for the disease, which kills about 10,500 Americans a year. An estimated 25,000 people were diagnosed with kidney cancer in 1991.

Cetus Corp. of Emeryville, Calif., developed the drug at a cost of more than $100 million. It will be marketed as Proleukin by Chiron Corp., which merged with Cetus last year.