FDA approves Astra's thyroid cancer drug

7th Apr 2011 07:19

Anglo-Swedish drugs leviathan AstraZeneca has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its thyroid cancer treatment Vandetanib.The drug is used to treat medullary thyroid cancer that cannot be removed by surgery or that has spread to other parts of the body. It is a so-called "orphan drug", a drug developed to treat a rare disease. Orphan drugs receive a number of incentives from the FDA, including access to tax credits, waiving of regulators' fees and a fast-tracked approval process.Vandetanib received orphan drug designation in medullary thyroid cancer in 2005. "Vandetanib is the only medicine to receive FDA approval specifically for use in patients with advanced medullary thyroid cancer and is the first treatment that AstraZeneca has developed and brought to market under orphan drug designation in the US," said Howard Hutchinson, Chief Medical Officer, AstraZeneca.Vandetanib is also under regulatory review in the European Union and Canada.---jh