Zevalin Added to SCT Boosts Survival in Refractory Follicular Lymphoma

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals is announcing that positive long-term clinical data for the Zevalin® therapeutic regimen has been published in the journal of the American Society of Hematology Blood regarding the treatment of patients diagnosed with late-stage relapsed follicular non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (fNHL).

The data was first reported last December at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting as an abstract.

Typically, fNHL patients whose disease is chemo-refractory have a poorer prognosis. After having relapsed three times after treatment, these patients have a median survival of 1.5 years.

In the study, 26 of these patients received the Zevalin regimen following the administration of the combination chemotherapy regimen fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and rituximab (FCR). The chemotherapy was given as a preparative regimen prior to a nonmyeloablative allogeneic stem cell transplantation (NST).

Patients were evaluated four times in the year following the transplant, then twice yearly for up to five years. The median follow-up duration was 33 months. Researchers determined that the patients experienced a substantially higher 6-year overall survival (OS) estimate of 80%--a huge improvement over the previous median survival times.

“It is very encouraging to see the publication of long-term clinical data showing that Zevalin's usage in this allogeneic transplantation regimen can contribute to improved overall survival" in this patient population, said Spectrum's President and CEO Rajesh C. Shrotriya, M.D. He continued:

"These data are very important to understanding the benefit of Zevalin in patients who receive allogeneic stem cells from donors and build on previously published and presented findings for autologous stem cell approach in these refractory patients. These data help solidify a role of ZEVALIN in stem cell transplantation.”