An experimental AstraZeneca drug that failed last year as a treatment for a rare cancer of the eye has been awarded special "orphan" status in the United States for a type of thyroid cancer. AstraZeneca's drug is being tested for patients with advanced differentiated thyroid cancer who fail to respond adequately to radioactive iodine. However, it is viewed by analysts as less important commercially than AstraZeneca's recently launched cancer drugs Tagrisso and Lynparza, and its experimental product durvalumab. Selumetinib, which belongs to a class of cancer drugs known as MEK inhibitors, failed to meet its goal in a late-stage trial for uveal melanoma in July 2015. The drug is also being investigated as a treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Source: Fox News May 12, 2016 01:26 UTC