Bukwang Pharmaceutical said Thursday that the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has approved Navelbine, an anticancer therapy.

Navelbine (Ingredient: vinorelbine tartrate), developed by Pierre Fabre, a French-based company, is an oral anticancer medication, which treats non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and advanced breast cancer.

“Patients with relapsed or metastatic breast cancer prefer the drug as it has lower incidences of hair loss than other anticancer drugs,” the company said. “Also, combination therapy with Cisplatin and Navelbine has become the standard chemotherapy for postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy in NSCLC patients.”

As most anticancer drugs used in the market consists of injection drugs, Navelbine is a new drug that can profoundly improve the convenience of patients, it added.

The company expects that breast cancer patients will further welcome the introduction of an oral cancer drug that does not affect social activities as patients with breast cancer have a longer survival rate than patients with other carcinomas.

“Based on the experience of selling original anticancer drugs and introducing new anti-cancer drugs developed by the company, we expect anticancer drugs to become major businesses of Bukwang,” a company official said.