The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has decided to approve the first drug in Japan that attacks cancer cells with a virus for a limited time as a treatment for malignant brain tumors.
Approval was decided for "Delitact" developed by Daiichi Sankyo as a treatment for a malignant brain tumor called glioma.
According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, a virus created using genetic recombination technology is directly administered to brain tumors to attack cancer cells. I have agreed to approve it because the effectiveness of the virus has been confirmed.
This is the first time that a drug for treating cancer using a virus has been approved in Japan, and it is expected that it will be officially approved in about a month.
On the other hand, due to the limited number of cases, the approval has been granted for a period of 7 years, and we will continue to collect data on efficacy.
The target is patients with malignant glioma who have not responded to standard treatments such as surgery and radiation therapy, including children.
In addition, it has been decided that a treatment method for repairing the cornea by transplanting a sheet made from the mucous membrane of the patient's mouth into the eye for an eye disease called "corneal epithelial stem cell exhaustion" has been approved.