Paris: Sanofi-Aventis, French pharmaceutical group has annunciated that the U.S. health officials have approved another application of its anti-cancer drug ‘Taxotere.’

The company said that the drug has been sanctioned to treat locally advanced head and neck cancer before chemo-radiotherapy and surgical treatment.

The approval is based on the outcomes of a phase III clinical examination, which showed that adding up Taxotere to typical induction chemotherapy resulted in a more than three year betterment in patient endurance rate.

At present, Taxotere is now sanctioned in five different cancer forms in Europe and the United States to take care of breast cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, gastric cancer and head and neck cancer.

Over 640,000 people although the world are diagnosed with head and neck cancer annually, and over 350,000 pass away from the disease per annum.