Addition of rituximab improves OS in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

NEW ORLEANS-Genentech and Biogen announced at ASH 2009 that the three-year follow-up of the CLL8 trial demonstrated that rituximab (Rituxan) plus fludarabine and cyclophosphamide (FC) chemotherapy improved overall survival in patients with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) vs FC therapy alone.

New data from the phase III CLL8 study showed that 87.2% of patients with previously untreated CLL who received rituximab plus FC were alive after more than three years of follow up (37.7 months) compared with 82.5% of patients who received FC alone (P = .012). The safety profile was consistent with those previously reported for rituximab, according to Genentech and Biogen. The median survival had not been reached at the time of the ASH presentation (abstract 535). Bone marrow blast