The Food and Drug Administration has approved a drug produced by Waltham’s Tesaro Inc. that has been shown to reduce nausea and vomiting in chemotherapy patients.
The drug’s generic name is rolapitant and it will be sold under the brand name Varubi, the company said Wednesday. It’s the first drug to hit the market for Tesaro, which said the market for the drug could be worth more than $1 billion.
Chemotherapy drugs to treat cancer induce nausea and vomiting in many patients in the days after they are administered. Although treatments exist, some people don’t respond to them. Tesaro said Varubi was significantly more effective than standard treatments in several trials in conducted.
Advertisement
A Tesaro spokeswoman said the company wouldn’t say how much the drug would cost, but said it expects to begin selling it on the US market sometime in the fourth quarter of this year.
Tesaro’s stock rose about 4 percent to $53.75 on the Nasdaq Stock Market shortly after the market opened Wednesday.
Jack Newsham can be reached at jack.newsham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TheNewsHam.