AstraZeneca Plc, a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company, announced yesterday that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) for saracatinib, a potential new medicine for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a type of lung disease that results in scarring (fibrosis) of the lungs.

Saracatinib is an inhibitor of src kinase which regulates broad cell functions including cell growth and cell differentiation. Saracatinib has completed Phase I development.

IPF is a chronic, progressive, irreversible and usually fatal interstitial lung disease which affects approximately 100,000 people in the US. On average, patients who are diagnosed with IPF live between two and five years from diagnosis, given the limited medicines available to treat the disease. The FDA grants ODD status to medicines intended for the treatment, diagnosis or prevention of rare diseases or disorders that affect fewer than 200,000 people in the US.

Mene Pangalos, executive vice president, R&D BioPharmaceuticals, said: 'Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis has a significant impact on patients' lives and new therapies are urgently needed. IPF is a recent addition to our respiratory research strategy and we are interested to see whether saracatinib could be a useful approach for the treatment of this intractable disease.'