(Bloomberg) -- AstraZeneca Plc’s drug Tagrisso won clearance in the European Union for an advanced form of non-small cell lung cancer, extending the revenue potential for the drugmaker’s top-selling cancer medicine.
The treatment was approved after a study showed it reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 84% in patients with with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer whose tumors have a specific genetic mutation and can’t be operated.
The clearance is a boost for Chief Executive Officer Pascal Soriot, who aims to almost double the company’s sales by the end of the decade, largely thanks to cancer medicines.
Lung cancer is often diagnosed when it’s already in advanced stages. Non-small cell lung cancer — which Tagrisso targets — is the most common type of the disease.
The patients eligible for Tagrisso drug also have a form of the disease that didn’t continue to progress during chemo-radiation therapy, Astra said Monday.
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