"In the absence of any effective treatments for advanced soft-tissue sarcomas or refractory bone sarcomas that have spread, the orphan drug designations for AP23573 provided by the FDA should help us address this unmet medical need more effectively," said Harvey J. Berger, M.D., chairman and chief executive officer of ARIAD. "We are working with key regulatory agencies to advance AP23573 toward its initial registration trial and subsequent regulatory submissions for marketing authorization in these devastating cancers."