Earlier, in 2005, Abraxis had entered into a license agreement with Taiho Pharma, under which Taiho Pharma got the right to market Abraxane in Japan.
Taiho Pharma has filed the new drug application (J-NDA) for Abraxane with the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in 2008.
Currently, Abraxis and Taiho are also developing Abraxane in Japan to treat lung and gastric cancer and other solid tumors.
Patrick Soon-Shiong, executive chairman of Abraxis BioScience, said: “The approval to market Abraxane in Japan is a major step forward to providing breast cancer patients with a new treatment option.
“Our partner Taiho is working diligently to make the necessary final arrangements to launch Abraxane later this year.
“We commend their accomplishments and the tremendous cooperative efforts of our team and look forward to working closely with them so that Abraxane is widely and readily available to patients.”