AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN) said that its Lynparza treatment has been approved in the EU for patients with a certain mutation of metastatic pancreatic cancer.
The FTSE 100-listed firm said 5-7% of patients with pancreatic cancer have a germline BRCA mutation targeted by the drug.
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Clinical trials demonstrated that Lynparza nearly doubled the time participants lived without disease progression or death, to seven and a half months versus nearly four months on placebo.
Lynparza – developed in partnership with Merck & Co – is a PARP inhibitor, so it stops the PARP protein from repairing damaged cancer cells.
It is already approved in several other countries for other types of pancreatic cancer as well as ovarian and breast cancers.