Sept 20 - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on

Friday it has approved the use of a drug combination along with

Sanofi's Sarclisa infusion as a treatment for certain

types of newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients.

Sarclisa has previously been approved for use as a fallback

therapy for certain cases of multiple myeloma after standard

treatments have failed.

The French drugmaker, a market leader in anti-inflammatory

drugs, has underscored its commitment to oncology drug

development even after a once-promising breast cancer drug

candidate flopped in 2022.

The FDA's approval allows use of the regimen in patients who

are not eligible for autologous stem cell transplant, another

treatment option for multiple myeloma.

In a late-stage study, a certain treatment regimen with

Sarclisa lowered the risk of disease progression or death by 40%

when compared to a treatment course without Sarclisa.

The study was conducted in patients who were not eligible

for the autologous stem cell transplant, in which a patient's

own healthy blood cells are used to restore bone marrow

function.

The drug was given FDA priority review status in May.

Sanofi plans to advance blood cancer drugs known as

anti-CD38, which include Sarclisa, despite GenMab ( GMAB ) and

Johnson & Johnson's ( JNJ ) strong foothold with Darzalex in the

same class.

Sarclisa generated sales of 227 million euros ($253.40

million)in the first half of the year. Analysts expect annual

Sarclisa sales of about 800 million-900 million euros by 2030,

according to LSEG data.

($1 = 0.8958 euros)