AstraZeneca: FDA Approves Lumoxiti for Hairy Cell Leukemia

   By Carlo Martuscelli

AstraZeneca PLC (AZN.LN) said Friday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its drug Lumoxiti for patients with hairy cell leukemia who had received other treatment previously.

The U.K. drugmaker said that this represents the first new FDA-approved medicine for the condition in more than 20 years. The approval is based on a phase 3 study of the drug that showed 75% of patients administered the drug responded to treatment.

Hairy cell leukemia is a rare kind of slow-growing leukemia in which the body produces an excess amount of lymphocytes.

Around 30% to 40% of patients with the disease who are treated will relapse between five to 10 years, AstraZeneca said. The new treatment was developed to meet this medical need.

Write to Carlo Martuscelli at carlo.martuscelli@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 14, 2018 02:27 ET (06:27 GMT)

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