The company on Friday said the relative risk reduction of cancer recurrence was 25.2% and that the results were broadly consistent regardless of patients' menopausal status or cancer progression status. Kisqali has been approved to treat hormone-driven breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, where Novartis has taken market share from Pfizer's (PFE.N) Ibrance. But that is in a subset of women who are at high risk of recurrence after surgery, typically diagnosed based on signs of cancer in the lymph nodes. Here, Novartis will face tough competition because the U.S. drugmaker has said Verzenio reduces the risk of recurrence by 35% in that group. Novartis will request approval for wider use in the U.S. and Europe before the end of the year, it added.

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Persons: Kisqali, Eli Lilly, Verzenio, drugmaker, Eli Lilly's Verzenio, Jeff Legos, Vas, Ludwig Burger, Sriraj Organizations: Novartis, American Society of Clinical Oncology, Oncology, Hematology, Thomson Locations: FRANKFURT, Chicago, U.S, Europe