BRIEF—AbbVie to present positive Venclexta data at American Society of Hematology meeting

Chicago’s AbbVie says it will present positive data at the upcoming American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting from the Phase III MURANO study evaluating Venclexta (venetoclax) tablets in combination with rituximab for certain leukemia patients.

The product, co-developed with Roche’s biotech subsidiary Genentech, is currently being marketed under the US FDA’s Accelerated Approval program.

The companies hope that data from the study will help confirm that approval. The interim results show progression-free survival (PFS) of 17 months for rituximab plus bendamustine, while median PFS had not yet been reached after two years with the Venclexta combination.

The overall response rate was 93.3% for the test group, versus 67.7%.