AB Science loses appeal over EU rejection of cancer drug

LONDON (Reuters) – French biotech company AB Science has lost an appeal to get the London-based European Medicines Agency to reconsider its rejection of the company’s cancer drug Masican, originally handed down in November. AB Science had been seeking conditional authorization of the drug, also known as masitinib mesylate, for the second-line treatment of malignant gastrointestinal stromal tumor. The company said it now intended to file for full approval with data from an ongoing confirmatory Phase III study. (Reporting by Ben Hirschler)