NORTH CHICAGO - AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV), a research-based global biopharmaceutical company, today presented long-term data from a post-hoc analysis, further supporting the sustained clinical benefit of fixed duration treatment with VENCLEXTA/VENCLYXTO (venetoclax) in combination with rituximab (VenR) in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (R/R CLL).

The updated data from the Phase 3 MURANO trial four-year analysis (median follow-up of 48 months with all patients off VENCLEXTA/VENCLYXTO treatment for a median of 22 months) showed that patients with R/R CLL who completed the chemotherapy-free, two-year fixed duration course of VENCLEXTA/VENCLYXTO treatment combination maintained progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Patients who completed treatment with the VENCLEXTA/VENCLYXTO combination also achieved higher rates of minimal residual disease (MRD)-negativity and complete remissions compared to those treated with a standard of care, bendamustine plus rituximab (BR).1 The full results were presented today at the 61st American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition (abstract #355).

'These results support the benefits of a fixed duration of treatment with venetoclax to reduce the risk of disease progression or death in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia,' said Mohammed Zaki, M.D., Ph.D., vice president, global head of hematology development at AbbVie. 'We remain committed to understanding the full utility of venetoclax combinations and to advancing other clinical development programs with the potential to transform the standards of care for patients with blood cancers.'

'In the four-year analysis from the MURANO trial, treatment with the venetoclax combination resulted in an 81 percent reduction in the risk of progression or death compared to the standard of care,' said Professor John Seymour, MBBS, Ph.D., lead investigator of the MURANO trial and director of the Department of Hematology at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Royal Melbourne Hospital in Australia. 'The sustained efficacy and manageable safety profile observed in the study further support the clinical benefits of fixed treatment in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia.'

In the post-hoc analysis, median follow-up for patients who completed two years of treatment with the venetoclax combination without progressive disease (n=130) was 22 months (range: 1 to 35 months). PFS (HR, 0.19, 95% CI: 0.14, 0.25, descriptive p

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