European oncology group adds Pharma Mar's Lurbinectedin to treatment guidelines

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's Pharma Mar said on Thursday that the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) had included the company's Lurbinectedin drug as a treatment option for a rare type of lung cancer in its clinical practice guidelines.

ESMO provides clinical guidelines for the treatment of a broad range of cancers based on consensus opinions of practitioners.

The group's updated guidance now endorses Lurbinectedin for patients who are undergoing or who have just finished a first round of platinum-based chemotherapy to treat small-cell lung cancer, Pharma Mar said.

Shares in the Madrid-based company were trading 2.1% higher at 95.96 euros ($114.92) per share after the announcement.

As small-cell lung cancer affects just 1.4 people per 100,000 people in the European Union, Lurbinectedin was granted orphan-drug designation for the treatment of rare diseases by the European Medicines Agency in 2019.

It was approved as a treatment of small-cell lung cancer by the U.S. FDA last June.

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(Reporting by Nathan Allen and Aida Pelaez-Fernandez, editing by Andrei Khalip, Inti Landauro and Jane Merriman)