Pfizer Inc's experimental lung cancer drug will be reviewed on a priority basis by U.S. health regulators, the drugmaker said on Tuesday.

The drug, crizotinib, is one of the most important drugs in the late-stage pipeline for Pfizer, the world's largest drugmaker which is increasingly pushing into oncology. Pfizer is seeking approval for crizotinib for the treatment of patients with a certain form of advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

By granting priority review, the Food and Drug Administration will accelerate the review time to a goal of six months as opposed to the usual 10 to 12 months. Such reviews are given to products considered to be potentially significant therapeutic advancements over existing therapies.

Pfizer also said it filed its crizotinib application with Japanese regulators.