US FDA approves Checkpoint's skin cancer drug (updated)

Checkpoint Therapeutics

13/12/2024 23:36

(Adds details and background in paragraphs 2-4)
       Dec 13 (Reuters) - The U.S Food and Drug Administration
said on Friday it has approved Checkpoint Therapeutics'  CKPT.O 
drug for treatment of a type of cancer on the outer layer of the
skin.
    Approval for the drug, which will be sold under the brand
Unloxcyt, is for cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma which can be
both locally advanced as well as for when it spreads into other
areas of the body, the FDA said.
    Unloxcyt is part of a class called PD-L1 antibody, in which
the drug works by binding to a protein called programmed
death-ligand 1 that helps the body's immune system to kill
cancer cells.
    The approval was based on results from a study of 109
patients, in which the drug helped show an overall response rate
of 47% in patients with a metastatic type of cancer and 48% in
those with an advanced local form of the disease.
    
    

 (Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna
Chandra Eluri)
 ((Leroy.Dsouza@thomsonreuters.com;))