AstraZeneca receives thumbs up for drug
DRUG maker AstraZeneca rewarded the faith of investors in the company yesterday after its pioneering ovarian cancer drug was approved for use across Europe.
The FTSE 100 pharmaceutical company highlighted its industry-leading cancer drugs earlier this year to counter a £70bn takeover bid from US rival Pfizer.
The new cancer drug, Lynparza, is the first of its kind and blocks a specific enzyme involved in cell repair with patients who have certain hereditary gene mutations.
The drug may also be used in treatment for other cancers in the future, prompting AstraZeneca to predict it could earn them as much as $2bn (£1.28bn) a year. News of the European Commission’s approval of the cancer drug, which is still being trialled in the US, helped the company’s share price to jump by 2.3 per cent to 1,378.5p – slightly ahead of the FTSE 100, which closed up two per cent.