AstraZeneca India, a leading science-led biopharmaceutical company has announced additional indication approval from Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) for durvalumab to treat biliary tract cancer (BTC) in India.
BTC is a group of rare and aggressive gastrointestinal (GI) cancers that form in the cells of the bile ducts (cholangiocarcinoma), gallbladder or ampulla of Vater (where the bile duct and pancreatic duct connect to the small intestine). Apart from ampullary cancer, early-stage BTC often presents without clear symptoms and most new cases of BTC are therefore diagnosed at an advanced stage, when treatment options are limited, and the prognosis is poor.
More than 30,000 new cases of BTCs are seen in India every year with 90 per cent of them diagnosed in the advanced stage. In fact, statistics show a high incidence of gallbladder cancer in the northern part of India.
