The FDA approves Merck and AZ’s olaparib drug

Merck and AstraZeneca’s (AZ) olaparib (Lynparza) drug, a maintenance treatment for mature patients with germ line BRCA-mutated metastatic pancreatic cancer whose ailment hasn’t made strides at least four months of a first line platinum based chemotherapy treatment routine, has recently been granted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA based their endorsement off of a trial’s outcome that was distributed in The New Journal of Medicine, which revealed that the drug significantly decreased the risk of development by nearly half in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of Merck Research Labs, Roy Baynes, stated: “The expanded approval of Lynparza represents a significant milestone for patients and supports the value of germ line BRCA testing in patients with this disease.”

Executive Vice President for AZ’s Oncology Business Unit, Dave Fredrickson, stated: “Patients with advanced pancreatic cancer historically have faced poor outcomes due to the aggressive nature of the disease and limited treatment advances over the last few decades. Lynparza is now the only approved targeted medicine in bio marker selected patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.”