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FDA Approves Use Of Drug Lynparza For Pancreatic Cancer

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Pancreatic cancer patients now have a new treatment option.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Lynparza for patients with tumors that didn't grow after 16 weeks of chemotherapy.

The drug is currently used to treat ovarian and breast cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is the third largest cause of death from cancer and is often not detected until late stages.

"Patients with advanced pancreatic cancer historically have faced poor outcomes due to the aggressive nature of the disease and limited treatment advances over the last few decades. Lynparza is now the only approved targeted medicine in biomarker-selected patients with advanced pancreatic cancer," Dave Fredrickson, the executive vice president of the oncology business unit of drugmaker AstraZeneca said in a statement.

The drug is already approved to treat ovarian and breast cancer.

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