Pharmacyclics : FDA Oks Imbruvica To Treat Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia

(RTTNews) - Pharmacyclics Inc. (PCYC) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted single-agent IMBRUVICA (ibrutinib) regular (full) approval in all lines of therapy as the first and only treatment for patients with Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia (WM), a rare, indolent type of B-cell lymphoma.

This is the fourth indication for IMBRUVICA, an oral therapy, which received FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designation for this indication in February 2013.

IMBRUVICA is being jointly developed and commercialized by Pharmacyclics and Janssen Biotech, Inc.

The approval is based on results from a multi-center, Phase II study that evaluated the efficacy and tolerability of IMBRUVICA in 63 patients with previously treated WM. In this study, IMBRUVICA demonstrated a response rate of 62% according to an Independent Review Committee. Very good partial responses (VGPR) of 11% and partial responses (PR) of 51% were observed. These responses were maintained and the median duration of response (DOR) has not been reached, with a range of 2.8+ to 18.8+ months.

WM, a clinically recognized subset of lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma or LPL, is a slow-growing and rare blood cancer that most commonly originates from B cells, a type of white blood cell (lymphocyte) that develops in the bone marrow.