By ,
Published February 17, 2016
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted breakthrough therapy designation to AstraZeneca's biggest new drug hope durvalumab as a treatment in bladder cancer, the drugmaker said on Wednesday.
The experimental medicine is a so-called PD-L1 therapy that fights cancer by boosting the immune system.
Breakthrough therapy designation expedites the development and review of medicines intended to treat serious or life-threatening diseases.
Durvalumab is also being developed as a treatment for lung, head and neck, gastric, pancreatic, liver and blood cancers. It faces competition from rival products made by Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck and Roche.
https://www.foxnews.com/health/astrazeneca-wins-fda-breakthrough-status-for-key-cancer-drug