AstraZeneca's thyroid cancer drug launches

WILMINGTON, Del. — Anglo-Swedish drug maker AstraZeneca has made the drug vandetanib available to certain thyroid cancer patients.

The drug maker announced Monday that the drug would be available to patients with medullary thyroid cancer that could not be removed surgically or that had spread to other parts of the body. The Food and Drug Administration approved the drug on April 6, and it is available exclusively through the pharmacy business unit of Biologics Inc., an integrated cancer management company.

“Vandetanib is the only medicine specifically approved for patients with this rare form of cancer,” AstraZeneca VP specialty care Lisa Schoenberg said. “We believe vandetanib will be important for the community of patients and doctors who are fighting this disease.”