Venetoclax, an investigational therapy being developed by pharmaceutical companies Abbvie and Genentech and Roche, was the subject of a recent AbbVie study.
The results, which were published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), indicated most patients treated with Venetoclax for relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) responded well to the therapy.
During Arm A of the study, the overall response rate for CLL patients taking Venetoclax was 79 percent; 20 percent of the study's patients experienced complete responses.
CLL is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow and blood that advances slowly. It is marked by the over-production of lymphocytes, a kind of white blood cell.
"Venetoclax is thought to inhibit the activity of BCL-2, an important anti-apoptotic protein," Dr. Andrew Roberts, lead author of the NEJM paper, said. "In this arm of the dose-escalation study, we assessed safety and efficacy measures for venetoclax in patients with relapsed or refractory CLL."
Researchers have been working on Venetoclax's development for almost 20 years.
"Results from this Phase I study provide important information about how we might treat relapsed/refractory CLL and about the potential of Venetoclax to provide responses for patients battling the disease," Dr. Michael Severino, chief scientific officer of AbbVie, said.
