Takeda Pharmaceuticals Korea said Monday the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety designated its lung cancer drug Brigatinib as an orphan drug.

The ministry designates a drug as the orphan drug status if it is used to treat a disease that affects less than 20,000 people in the country.

"We are pleased to offer new treatment options to patients with ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer through the designation of Brigantinib as an orphan drug,” said Takeda Pharmaceuticals Korea CEO Mahender Nayak.

Brigantinib, marketed under Alunbrig, is a second-line treatment for patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. Patients can take the drug if they see no treatment progress with Pfizer’s Xalkori (crizotinib).

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug as a tyrosine kinase inhibitor in April last year, the company said.

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