Singapore-headquartered biopharmaceutical company Specialised Therapeutics (ST) has announced that its portfolio therapy to treat rare soft tissue sarcomas has now been approved in New Zealand.

Medsafe has approved the use of YONDELIS (trabectedin) for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic liposarcoma or leiomyosarcoma who received a prior anthracycline-containing regimen.

YONDELIS (trabectedin) is used extensively around the world and has been shown to improve progression free survival.

News of the Medsafe registration has been welcomed by oncologists and the New Zealand sarcoma community, who say it means patients whose disease has progressed will have access to a new line of therapy.

"Sarcoma is a relatively rare cancer and treatment options are limited for those with advanced disease," said Associate Professor Jayesh Desai, Medical Oncologist and Deputy Chair of the Australia and New Zealand Sarcoma Association (ANZSA). 

YONDELIS is already approved and has been available to patients in the United States since 2015, and in Europe since 2007. It was approved by Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration in 2021.

It is made available in New Zealand by Specialised Therapeutics Asia under an exclusive license arrangement with international partner PharmaMar SA.