Canada approves BCL-2 inhibitor VENCLEXTA in combination with CD20 monoobinutuzumab for previously untreated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

AbbVie announced that Health Canada has approved VENCLEXTA (venetoclax) in conjunction with anti-CD20 obinutuzumab for use in previously untreated adult patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)this is the third indication of VENCLEXTA, a B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL-2) inhibitor that plays an antitumor role by promoting apoptosis in cancer cellsVENCLEXTA has also been approved to be combined with rituxima to treat Patients with CLL who have received at least one previous treatmentAnd as a single therapy for the treatment of 17p missing CLL patients who had previously received at least one line of treatment and had no other treatment optionthis latest approval is based on a preliminary analysis of the Phase 3 clinical trial of CLL14 (28 months of median follow-up), which showed a clinically significant and statistically significant improvement in the non-progressive survival of VENCLEXTA-combined nutozumab patients compared to patients receiving the obinutuzumab-based standard chemotherapy regimenDr Sue Robinson, Department of Hematology, Department of Medicine, Dalhousie University, explained: 'Venetoclax and obinutuzumab are combination strains that are effective treatments during limited treatment periodsHealth Canada's approval is good news, especially for patients who do not wish to receive treatment indefinitely'CLL is usually a slow-moving cancer of bone marrow and blood and is one of the most common types of leukemia in adultsIn Canada, CLL has about 1,745 newly diagnosed cases each year, resulting in more than 600 deaths each year