UPDATE 1-Sunesis cancer drug gets orphan status, shares soar

* FDA grants orphan drug status to Voreloxin * Shares up as much as 28 pct

Nov 5 (Reuters) - Biopharmaceutical company Sunesis Pharmaceuticals (SNSS.O) said its experimental cancer drug, voreloxin, got an orphan drug designation from U.S. health regulators, sending its shares soaring 28 percent.

Voreloxin is being developed to treat acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a cancer that usually affects older adults, and the drug is currently in its mid stage trial.

The company is currently testing the drug in two mid-stage trials -- one in newly diagnosed elderly AML patients unlikely to benefit from standard chemotherapy and another in combination with the chemotherapy drug cytarabine in relapsed or refractory AML.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration grants orphan drug designation to drugs that may provide a significant therapeutic advantage over existing treatments and target conditions affecting 200,000 or fewer patients in the United States every year.

The status grants the drugmaker a marketing exclusivity of seven years in the United States, upon approval.

Shares of the company were trading up 28 percent at 49 cents Thursday on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Krishnakali Sengupta in Bangalore; Editing by Jarshad Kakkrakandy)