Last month, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) announced it had approved a pediatric cancer drug, Unituxin. The drug, designed to treat neuroblastoma , is
only the
third drug to receive initial FDA approval for a pediatric cancer in the last 20 years.
Unituxin is an antibody that binds to the surface of neuroblastoma cells. The drug is being approved for use as part of a multimodality regimen, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy for patients who achieved at least a particle response to prior first-line multiage, multi modality therapy.
"Unituxin marks the first approval for a therapy aimed specifically for the treatment of patients with high-risk neuroblastoma," said Richard Azdur, M.D., Director of the Office of Hematology and Oncology Products in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "Unituxin fulfills a critical need by providing a treatment option that prolongs survival in children with high-risk neuroblastoma."
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