Teva's Neutropenia Drug Approved by FDA

The US Food and Drug Administration has revealed that it has approved Teva Pharmaceutical Industries' neutropenia drug that will help increase the production of infection-fighting white blood cell among patients who are undergoing chemotherapy.

With Amgen's patent for its biologic drug Neupogen expiring next year; the FDA has approved Teva's tbo-filgrastim, which is similar to Neupogen. However Teva will not be able to market its drug until November 2013 following a settlement of patent litigation with Amgen last year.

Stating that the drug may help patients recover faster from neutropenia, FDA's Richard Pazdur said, "Supportive care products, such as tbo-filgrastim, reduce or allow for more rapid recovery from side effects of cancer treatments."

Source: Medindia