Bayer's Nexavar gets priority review as thyroid cancer drug

FRANKFURT - Bayer's cancer drug Nexavar was given priority review status by US healthcare regulators for the oral drug's use against a difficult-to-treat type of thyroid cancer, the company said on Tuesday.

The US Food and Drug Administration aims to complete the priority review within six months, rather than the standard review of about 10 months, Bayer said.

Bayer and development partner Onyx Pharmaceuticals are seeking a wider use for Nexavar to include treatment of patients with thyroid cancer that returned despite previous surgery and treatment with radioactive iodine, a group with a particularly poor prospect of survival.

Nexavar is already approved to treat liver as well as kidney cancer and it is also being tested on breast cancer patients.