Company acquires rights to bladder cancer drug

Valera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has completed its acquisition of the new drug application and other assets associated with valrubicin (Valstar), an FDA-approved drug indicated for treatment of carcinoma in situ (CIS) of the bladder. The company said it expects to begin marketing the product in the United States by the end of the fourth quarter of this year.

Valrubicin, a chemotherapeutic anthracyline derivative, is indicated for use as an intravesical therapy of BCG-refractory CIS of the bladder in patients for whom immediate cystectomy would be associated with unacceptable morbidity or mortality.