Johnson & Johnson said on Thursday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had approved its antibody-based therapy for patients with a difficult-to-treat type of blood cancer. The therapy, Talvey, belongs to a class of treatments called bispecific antibodies designed to bring a cancer cell and an immune cell together so the body's immune system can kill the cancer. Around 35,730 people in the U.S. are expected to be diagnosed with multiple myeloma this year. The cancer starts in the bone marrow and disrupts production of normal blood cells. The accelerated approval is based on mid-stage trial data, which showed 73.6% patients achieved either partial or complete disappearance of cancer from their body.

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Persons: Johnson, Talvey, J's Tecvayli, Michael Andreini Organizations: U.S . Food, Drug Administration, Reuters, FDA Locations: U.S, White Oak , Maryland