Patients with relapsed Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) can benefit from a combination of treatment through fludarabine and cyclophosphamide chemotherapy along with Rituxan, a drug sold by Genetech Inc. and Biogen Idec Inc. The combination treatment has proven to raise the survival rate for patients with CLL and warded off the progression of the cancer.
Recently, a study called REACH—the second to evaluate the success of combination treatment with Rituxan and chemotherapy as a fight against CLL—showed great success. According to the American Cancer Society, CLL is the most common form of adult leukemia and will affect around 15,000 people this year. Leukemia, which means "white blood," is a broad term that represents a range of diseases. It is a cancer that attacks a patient’s blood and bone marrow where blood cells are made.
Rituxan is approved for several uses. Its initial purpose was to treat non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which it was approved to treat in 1997. Since then it has been approved for other uses including rheumatoid arthritis. During the study REACH, researchers evaluated 552 random study patients that were previously unsuccessfully treated for CLL. REACH compared the results from patients treated with the combination treatment of Rituxan and chemotherapy, and those only treated with chemotherapy, to see which group reached greater results at increasing progression free survival. Based on the study, those patients treated with the combination of Rituxan and chemotherapy improved their progression free survival rates more than those patients treated with only chemotherapy.
Based on the successful results of REACH, the makers of Rituxan hope to gain approval from the FDA for another treatment option for CLL. The President of Research and Development with Biogen Inc, Cecil Pickett stated “REACH results are promising, and pending confirmation of the results by independent review, we look forward to submitting an application to the FDA for Rituxan’s potential approval in this indication.”
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