Novartis reports positive results for lung cancer treatment

Novartis has reported encouraging results from a study of its LDK378 treatment for non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC).

Published in the New England of Journal of Medicine, the company said the majority of patients in the development program responded to the drug, which has been declared a "breakthrough therapy" under new rules introduced by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2012.

This designation was brought in as part of a concerted effort to bring drugs for serious or life-threatening conditions to market much earlier if they are deemed likely to demonstrate improvement over existing treatments.

According to the study, patients survived for an average of seven months after taking LDK378, with 58 per cent responding to the treatment. Novartis is currently conducting phase III trials of the drug and revealed in January it has filed for regulatory approval.

The company is thought to consider this one of its most promising new treatments ahead of the so-called "patent cliff", which will see a number of the firm's most popular drugs lose market exclusivity.