UPDATE: FDA approves Eisai's Lenvima for a type of thyroid cancer and expands use of Banzel

The US Food and Drug Administration on Friday granted approval for Japanese pharma major Eisai’s (TYO: 4523) Lenvima (lenvatinib) to treat patients with progressive, differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) whose disease progressed despite receiving radioactive iodine therapy (radioactive iodine refractory disease).

The most common type of thyroid cancer, DTC is a cancerous growth of the thyroid gland which is located in the neck and helps regulate the body’s metabolism. The National Cancer Institute estimates that 62,980 Americans were diagnosed with thyroid cancer and 1,890 died from the disease in 2014.

“The development of new therapies to assist patients with refractory disease is of high importance to the FDA,” said Richard Pazdur, director of the Office of Hematology and Oncology Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, adding: “Today’s approval gives patients and health care professionals a new therapy to help slow the progression of DTC.”