A pathbreaking pill for lung cancer from Amgen Inc. was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, adding a new potential blockbuster to the biotech giant’s aging stable of drugs.
The drug, called Lumakras, was approved Friday to treat a portion of lung cancer patients with a particular genetic mutation who have already tried other therapies.
The mutation, known as KRAS, is among the most common found in cancers, but researchers struggled for so many years to find a medicine that can treat it that the mutation came to be considered “undruggable.”
The FDA’s approval, which has sped through clinical trials since the first encouraging results in 2019, is a validation for Amgen’s drug discovery capabilities, analysts say.
The company’s launch of the drug will be closely watched by investors and analysts looking to see Amgen offset declining revenue from older products, including rheumatoid-arthritis drug Enbrel.
