Abbott to Make Prostate Cancer Drug Available

Abbott Laboratories said it had received U.S. regulatory approval to make its experimental prostate cancer drug Xinlay available to certain patients even though it is not yet approved for sale.

The Food and Drug Administration has given Abbott permission to make Xinlay available in the U.S. to men with late-stage prostate cancer who do not respond to hormone therapy under a program known as expanded access. The drug will be made available later this summer.

If Xinlay is approved in late 2005, one analyst expects its sales to reach $300 million in 2006 and ultimately total $1.5 billion to $2 billion a year.