SANOFI AND Regeneron Pharmaceuticals have said their experimental cancer medicine Zaltrap has won priority review from US regulators because it may extend the lives of patients who have few treatment options and whose cancer is spreading.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will decide by August 4th on the safety and efficacy of Zaltrap when combined with chemotherapy, according to Tarrytown, New York-based Regeneron and Paris-based Sanofi in a statement.

Zaltrap – it is also called aflibercept – is designed to control cancer growth by blocking the supply of blood going to the tumour.

The Food and Drug Administration grants priority review when a medicine “has the potential to provide a treatment where no adequate therapy exists or a significant improvement compared to marketed products”, the companies said.

The drug-makers have said the medicine did not improve overall survival in a new study which involved patients with a form of prostate cancer which is known as being androgen-independent. – (Bloomberg)