AstraZeneca (LON: AZN) shares are gaining ground on Tuesday after the company and Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) announced that Japan has approved Lynparza to treat advanced ovarian, prostate and pancreatic cancers.
The companies said the approvals for the three cancer types authorise Lynparza for: maintenance treatment after 1st-line chemotherapy containing bevacizumab for patients with homologous recombination repair deficient (HRD) ovarian cancer; the treatment of patients with BRCA gene-mutated castrate-resistant prostate cancer with distant metastasis; and as a maintenance treatment after platinum-based chemotherapy for patients with BRCAm curatively unresectable pancreas cancer.
The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare approvals are based on positive results from the PAOLA-1, PROfound and POLO Phase 3 trials.
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Dave Fredrickson, AstraZeneca’s Executive Vice President of its Oncology Business Unit said that the approvals “further underline the critical importance of biomarker testing at diagnosis, which helps physicians determine a course of treatment tailored to individual patients to substantially delay disease progression.”
In London, AstraZeneca shares are trading 4.51% higher at 7549p following the previous days close at 7223p.
