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The FDA has granted approval to a new chemotherapy drug manufactured by Cephalon called Treanda.
The drug comes in an injectable form and has been approved for patients diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The company hopes to have it available for US physicians to begin prescribing to patients by this coming April.
The FDA based its decision on a 300 patient study in which the drug was compared against other types of chemo drugs. Treanda outperformed all other drugs in the study when it came to blood tests of these patients.
The type of cancer that the drug is approved for is more commonly diagnosed in older people over the age of 70. It is much more commonly diagnosed in men than women.
It is estimated that in the US each year more than 15,000 new cases of CLL are reported.
Shares of Cephalon rose $1, or 1.6 percent, Thursday to $63.61 in afternoon trading.
