Roche’s CLL treatment approved

Roche’s drug designed to tackle chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) has received approval to treat sufferers across the continent.

The European Commission passed authorisation on the medication MAbThera (rituximab) to be used in combination with chemotherapy for patients who have previously been untreated for the illness, which is the most common form of the disease to affect adults.

During a phase III trial of the remedy, it achieved “compelling” results. Those who took it lived on average 40 months without their cancer progressing, compared to an average of 32 months for people who received chemotherapy on its own.

William M Burns, chief executive officer for Roche, explained the approval is “great news for patients suffering from this devastating disease”.

So far, the drug has been used to treat more than 1.5 million sufferers of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and it is hoped it will now be able to help people with CLL, he concluded.

The therapeutic antibody MabThera binds a particular protein to the surface of normal and malignant B-cells, recruiting the body’s natural defences to attack the marked cells.

Roche’s headquarters are in Basel, Switzerland.