Pfizer, Astellas prostate cancer drug succeeds key trial

Pfizer Inc and Japan`s Astellas Pharma Inc said on Thursday their prostate cancer drug met the main goal of a trial testing it for a more common form of the disease.

The drug, Xtandi, is already approved to treat metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) - where the cancer has spread to other parts of the body - and raked in global sales of $141 million in the second quarter.

An approval to treat non-metastatic CRPC would significantly boost sales of Xtandi, which Pfizer got access to when it bought Medivation for $14 billion last year. Astellas owns the rights to sell Xtandi outside the United States.

Pfizer said on Thursday that Xtandi, in combination with an anti-hormone therapy, was statistically significant in improving survival rate in men with non-metastatic CRPC without their cancer spreading, when compared with the standalone anti-hormone therapy.

Patients with CRPC experience cancer progression despite androgen deprivation therapy, a treatment that blocks the production of the hormone.

Pfizer is pinning its growth on the success and approvals of 15 drugs over the next five years, a list that includes Xtandi and breast cancer drug Ibrance.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Pfizer`s Mylotarg for certain patients with acute myeloid leukemia, re-clearing a drug that had been pulled off the market in 2010.

Prostate cancer a big market for drugmakers. More than 161,000 men are estimated to be diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2017 in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society.

Pfizer`s shares rose 1.4 percent to $35.55 in light premarket trading.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)