By Oliver Griffin

AstraZeneca PLC (AZN.LN) said Thursday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted orphan drug designation for Selumetinib, a drug used to treat incurable genetic condition Neurofibromatosis Type 1.

The pharmaceutical company said a U.S. National Cancer Institute-sponsored phase one and two trial is exploring the use of Selumetinib to treat NF1 in pediatric patients. Phase two trial results are expected later in 2018, AstraZeneca said.

The FDA's orphan-drug designation program provides orphan status to medicines that are intended to treat fewer than 200,000 people in the U.S. suffering from rare diseases.

AstraZeneca also said that Selumetinib is being investigated in phase three trials of post-surgery and radiotherapy patients diagnosed with differentiated thyroid cancer.

Write to Oliver Griffin at oliver.griffin@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 15, 2018 02:45 ET (07:45 GMT)

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