Drug giant AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) has won US permission for a lung cancer treatment.
The group said the US Food & Drug Administration had approved Iressa (gefitinib) tablets for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Iressa is approved in 91 countries. AstraZeneca said it was also studying Iressa in combination with other investigational medicines, including the company's anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibody, durvalumab, as a treatment for a broader range of lung cancer patients.
Head of oncology in global medicine development at AstraZeneca, Antoine Yver, said: "The approval of IRESSA provides physicians and patients in the US with a new choice of first-line treatment for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer."
Shares in AstraZeneca gained 25p to 4,356p.