Last week the FDA announced the approval of ibrutinib for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. According to their press release:
“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today expanded the approved use of Imbruvica (ibrutinib) for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients who have received at least one previous therapy.”
“CLL is a rare blood and bone marrow disease that usually gets worse slowly over time, causing a gradual increase in white blood cells called B lymphocytes, or B cells. The National Cancer Institute estimates that 15,680 Americans were diagnosed and 4,580 died from the disease in 2013.”
“Imbruvica works by blocking the enzyme that allows cancer cells to grow and divide. In November 2013, the FDA granted Imbruvica accelerated approval to treat patients with mantle cell lymphoma, a rare and aggressive type of blood cancer, if those patients received at least one prior therapy.”
“Today’s approval provides an important new treatment option for CLL patients whose cancer has progressed despite having undergone previous therapy,” said Richard Pazdur, M.D., director of the Office of Hematology and Oncology Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “The FDA completed its review of Imbruvica’s new indication under the agency’s accelerated approval process, which played a vital role in rapidly making this new therapy available to those who need it most.”
The full press release can be read on their website.
The full listing of CLL trials at WCMC is available on the clinical trials website. Look to this space for further news concerning ibrutinib trials for CLL patients at WCMC.
New Developments in Lymphoma 