AstraZeneca's Lynparza gets EU nod as first-line ovarian cancer maintenance treatment

(Reuters) - British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc on Tuesday said its cancer medicine Lynparza was approved as a first-line maintenance treatment for a type of advanced ovarian cancer by the European Commission, following a panel's consent in April.

Lynparza, being jointly developed by AstraZeneca along with U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co, can now be used in patients who are in response following chemotherapy for BRCA-mutated ovarian cancer in Europe, AstraZeneca said.

BRCA genes are responsible for producing proteins which repair damaged DNA, and if the genes are mutated, they can cause cancer growth.

(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr)