Allos Granted Orphan Status In Europe For Lymphoma Drug

Allos Therapeutics Inc. (ALTH) said its experimental Hodgkin lymphoma drug got orphan-drug designation from the European Commission.

Shares were up 2.7% at $4.63 in opening trading. The stock is down 31% this year.

Such status provides 10 years of market exclusivity and other incentives if the product is approved in Europe. Regulators use orphan-drug designations to encourage the development of treatments for rare diseases. Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system, affects about 1.1 in 10,000 people in the European Union.

Allos is also developing the drug pralatrexate to treat a variety of cancers, including non-small cell lung cancer and metastatic transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder. It received orphan-drug status from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration earlier this year.

The company currently markets pralatrexate in the U.S. under the name Folotyn as a treatment for peripheral T-cell lymphoma. The drug, Allos' first to hit the market, was approved by the FDA in September 2009. As such, the company just began generating product revenue late last year and hasn't been profitable.

 
   -By Matt Jarzemsky, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2240; [e-mail]