AbbVie commences new study of venetoclax for multiple myeloma

AbbVie has commenced a new clinical trial assessing the safety and efficacy of its drug venetoclax in the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma.

The phase III study will evaluate the performance of venetoclax in combination with bortezomib and dexamethasone in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who are considered sensitive or naive to proteasome inhibitors and have received one to three prior lines of therapy.

This will be compared to treatment with bortezomib, dexamethasone and placebo, with approximately 240 subjects set to be enrolled for the trial. Progression-free survival has been selected as the primary efficacy endpoint of the study.

Venetoclax is being developed in collaboration by AbbVie and Genentech, and will be jointly commercialised by the companies in the US, with AbbVie taking sole responsibility for international sales.

Dr Michael Severino, executive vice-president for research and development and chief scientific officer at AbbVie, said: "This phase III trial represents our commitment to identifying the full potential of this therapy through our clinical development programme and is an important step in our goal to provide a possible treatment for multiple myeloma patients."

The drug is already approved in the US as a therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and is sold under the brand name Venclexta.