|
 The British drugmaker, which is relying on cancer treatments to
revive its fortunes following a wave of patent expiries, said on
Thursday the decision showed the potential importance of selumetinib
for some patients.
Orphan status is awarded to medicines promising significant benefit
in treating rare, life-threatening diseases and the designation
provides companies with special development and market exclusivity
incentives.
AstraZeneca's drug is being tested for patients with advanced
differentiated thyroid cancer who fail to respond adequately to
radioactive iodine.
Selumetinib, which belongs to a class of cancer drugs known as MEK
inhibitors, failed to meet its goal in a late-stage trial for uveal
melanoma in July 2015.
The drug is also being investigated as a treatment for advanced
non-small cell lung cancer. However, it is viewed by analysts as
less important commercially than AstraZeneca's recently launched
cancer drugs Tagrisso and Lynparza, and its experimental product
durvalumab.
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(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; editing by Jason Neely)
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