A simple once-a-day tablet that can zap killer lung cancer tumours will today be rolled out on the NHS.
Tagrisso (osimertinib) was only granted a licence in February and has been hailed as a “breakthrough” drug.
The once-a-day tablet is suitable for patients with non-small-cell lung cancer who have a specific mutation that means they have stopped responding to earlier treatments.
Roche said on Tuesday its lung cancer drug Alecensa (alectinib), developed by its Genentech unit, received a second breakthrough therapy designation (BTD) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitor.
The latest BTD was granted for the treatment of adult patients with advanced ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have not received prior treatment with an ALK inhibitor, the Swiss drugmaker said in a statement.
Alecensa received its first FDA BTD in June 2013 for people with ALK-positive NSCLC whose disease progressed on treatment with crizotinib, Basel-based Roche said.
