Subject: Vestar Drug Gets Orphan Status
Date: Published: 5/21/93 (22 lines)
Source: Wall Street Journal. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc.

    Vestar Drug Gets Orphan Status

    SAN DIMAS, Calif.  -- Vestar Inc. said the Food and Drug
 Administration granted orphan drug status to Vestar's DaunoXome drug
 for treatment of Kaposi's sarcoma, a form of cancer that afflicts
 AIDS patients.
    Vestar, a pharmaceutical concern, called the FDA action "an
 important milestone for this company."  The company's application to
 market the drug was filed with the FDA in February.
    Orphan drug status gives a new drug seven years of marketing
 exclusivity following FDA approval.  The Orphan Drug Act was passed
 in 1983 to encourage development of drugs for conditions that affect
 fewer than 200,000 people in the U. S. 

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