FRANKFURT (Reuters) - U.S. health regulators granted a priority review for Bayer's cancer drug regorafenib for the treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumors, potentially speeding up the treatment's route to market.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration grants priority reviews to medicines that are considered potentially significant therapeutic advancements over existing therapies.

A priority review takes six months rather than the usual 10 to 12-months.

Onyx Pharmaceuticals is the U.S. marketing partner for regorafenib, which will be branded as Stivarga.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger)