FDA Puts GlaxoSmithKline's Blood Cancer Drug In the Fast Lane
GlaxoSmithKline's (NYSE: GSK) experimental new cancer drug, belantamab mafodotin, will receive a priority review from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The agency's recent decision means belantamab will probably become the first of several drugs to treat multiple myeloma by hitting the same target.
Multiple myeloma is cancer formed in the plasma cells. About 30,000 adults in the U.S. are diagnosed each year with this second-most common blood cancer after non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Belantamab mafodotin is a protein that delivers a single-serving package of chemotherapy to cells that have beta-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) on their surface. BCMA is found almost exclusively on the surfaces of older immune cells that probably should have retired already, which makes it a popular target for drug developers trying to come up with new multiple myeloma treatments.
Source Fool.com
