Genta Inc. today announced the presentation of clinical data reporting the safety and activity of Genasense(R), the Company's lead anticancer drug, in combination with rituximab (Rituxan(R); Genentech IDEC). The trial was conducted in patients with relapsed and refractory non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) by investigators from the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, and the Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA. The data were presented by the trial's principal investigator, Dr. Barbara Pro, on Saturday at the International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma in Lugano, Switzerland.
In this study, Genasense was administered daily for 7 days on weeks 1, 3 and 5, and Rituxan was administered weekly for 6 weeks. Thirty-five patients who had failed a median of 2 prior chemotherapy regimens with or without rituximab were entered into this ongoing trial. To date, 6 patients have achieved a complete response, one of whom was refractory to prior rituximab therapy. Nine other patients have achieved a partial response for an overall response rate of 42%. Patients with the specific subset of follicular lymphoma showed a response rate of 56%. Twelve other patients have had stable disease. Side effects of the combination appeared qualitatively similar to that for rituximab alone, including but not limited to neutropenia, fever, infection, anemia and fatigue.
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