SELLAS Life Sciences Group Inc. said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted orphan drug designation to its medicine galinpepimut-S to treat multiple myeloma, a type of cancer that forms in the plasma cells.

The New York-based biopharmaceutical company said both the U.S. FDA and the European Medicines Agency have already granted orphan drug status for galinpepimut-S to treat acute myeloid leukemia, a type of blood cancer, and malignant pleural mesothelioma, a type of lung cancer.

Orphan drug designation may provide certain benefits, including a seven-year period of market exclusivity if the drug is approved.