Velcade Helping Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Patients

Last evening I wrote about an e-mail I had just received from Manisha Pai with Millennium about break-through results for lymphoma patients, using a multiple myeloma drug, Velcade. She has now cleared the release of the info. Here is a copy of her press release draft. Official release will be later today:


THE ADDITION OF VELCADE® (BORTEZOMIB) FOR INJECTION TO NOVEL COMBINATION DELIVERS PROMISING RESULTS IN PATIENTS WITH NON-HODGKIN’S LYMPHOMA

-- VELCADE, rituximab and bendamustine deliver high complete remission rate to patients with relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma --

New Orleans, La, December 8, 2009 – Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company today reported data from a clinical trial evaluating a VELCADE based combination for patients with relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). The VERTICAL1 Phase II trial evaluates a novel three-drug combination of VELCADE, rituximab and bendamustine (VRB), which reported an 86 percent overall response rate (ORR) and 53 percent complete response (CR) rate in patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma (FL). These data were presented at the 51st Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), held December 5-8, 2009 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
“We are excited that improved response rates, including a higher CR rate, were seen with VRB compared with last prior therapy,” said Nancy Simonian, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, Millennium. “These encouraging findings from the VERTICAL study complement our continued research of VELCADE in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, including two ongoing international Phase III registration trials.”
Bortezomib, Bendamustine, and Rituximab in Patients with Relapsed or Refractory Follicular Lymphoma: Encouraging Activity in the Phase 2 VERTICAL Study (Abstract #933)

VERTICAL is an open-label, single-arm, multi-center study to determine whether VRB provides benefit to patients with relapsed or refractory FL, as assessed by complete response (CR) rates.

I know many, many patients who have successfully used Velcade to treat their multiple myeloma. How exciting it may now be used in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma as well! Thanks for the early heads-up, Manisha!

Feel good and keep smiling! Pat