Johnson & Johnson has filed for approval of a new indication for its prostate cancer drug Zytiga in the US and EU, which could allow it to be used earlier on in the course of the disease.
The company’s Janssen subsidiary has filed for approval of Zytiga (abiraterone) alongside prednisone in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) who are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic after failure of androgen deprivation therapy and before chemotherapy.
Zytiga was approved in the US and EU last year as a treatment for mCRPC cases who had previously been treated with docetaxel-based chemotherapy.
The product has been gaining rapid acceptance among medical oncologists, with sales running at $200m-plus a quarter and analysts predicting potential peak sales in excess of $1bn a year.