Radotinib approved in South Korea for CML
The Yonhap news agency announced today that the South Korean equivalent of the FDA had approved Il-Yang pharmaceuticals radotinib (brand name Supect) for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Radotinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, also known by its development code of IY5511.
I briefly mentioned radotinib in my CML update from the ASH 2011 annual meeting.
The Yonhap release quotes an official at the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) as saying that:
“It will be used on patients who have become resistant to existing drugs such as Gleevec, Tasigna and Sprycel.”
Moderated by John Mendlein, the panel contained some R&D heavy weights:
For those unable to make it to Washington DC for the 2011 Convention of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) that starts today, you can follow all the 
One of the 
Source: redrawn from FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) presentation. The data in my opinion is a little ambiguous as to the true state of the Pharma industry. While the number of applications declined last year to a five year low of 23, from a previous 5 year high in 2009 of 37, the number of NME approvals at 21 was only just below the 5 year average of 22.