Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Tokyo, reported Phase II results showing that its oral nucleoside cancer drug TAS-102 significantly improved overall survival compared to placebo (9 months vs. 6.6 months) and significantly reduced the risk of mortality (p = 0.0011) in patients with refractory metastatic colorectal cancer who had received standard chemotherapy of at least two or more regimens containing a fluoropyrimidine, irinotecan and oxaliplatin.