A groundbreaking cancer drug nabs fast OK, giving Eli Lilly boasting rights as a rival speeds close behind
Eli Lilly $LLY has scored the fast FDA approval it was gunning for when the pharma giant plunked down $8 billion to acquire Loxo Oncology back at the beginning of 2019. Regulators stamped their OK on selpercatinib, which can now be marketed as Retevmo to patients suffering from 3 different types of cancers all driven by the same gene alteration.
The approval marks another win for advocates of rapid development, with the Loxo team jumping from their first treatment to an approval on Phase I/II data in 3 short years. And it comes just 3 months after the FDA’s cancer group handed Lilly a priority review, indicating that the agency still finds it easy to reward advances in the field with speedy answers — despite the pandemic.
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