Medivation prostate cancer drug wins FDA approval

Medivation's David Hung.

A prostate cancer drug from Medivation Inc. was approved Friday by the Food and Drug Administration. Under the brand name Xtandi, the drug's approval came three months sooner than expected for metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer that has spread or recurred. The approval represents a victory for San Francisco-based Medivation (NASDAQ: MDVN), not only for coming in ahead of the planned Nov. 22 decision date but also because Medivation only two years ago tumbled on the late-stage failure of its experimental Alzheimer's disease treatment Dimebon.