FDA approves Teva leukemia drug

Oct 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday said it has approved a new leukemia treatment from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd to be sold under the brand name Synribo.

The drug, also known as omacetaxine mepesuccinate, is approved to treat a type of the blood and bone marrow cancer called chronic myelogenous leukemia, or CML, in patients whose cancer has progressed after treatment with at least two drugs from a class called tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

``Today's approval provides a new treatment option for patients who are resistant to or cannot tolerate other FDA-approved drugs for chronic or accelerated phases of CML,'' Richard Pazdur, director of the Office of Hematology and Oncology Products in FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a statement.