Cell Therapeutics initiates launch of Pixuvri in Europe

Following the European approval of the drug this spring (The Pharma Letter May 14), US biotech firm Cell Therapeutics (Nasdaq and MTA: CTIC) has initiated the commercial launch of Pixuvri (pixantrone) in the European Union, with entry into Sweden, Denmark and Finland in September, to be followed by Austria and Norway in early October 2012 and Germany, the UK and the Netherlands in November 2012.

Cell Thera plans to expand availability to France, Italy and Spain as well as other European countries in 2013. Pixuvri is the first medicinal product licensed in the EU to treat adult patients with multiply relapsed or refractory aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). In the EU, there are about 37,000 new cases of aggressive B-cell NHL every year.

"Patients with late-stage aggressive NHL who are not eligible for, or who have not responded to, second line therapy, have very limited treatment options and a bleak outlook, with average survival of less than a year," commented Ruth Pettengell, Consultant Hemato-Oncologist at St George's Hospital, London, UK, and principal investigator of the Phase III EXTEND study. "The evidence for Pixuvri demonstrates improved efficacy over current treatment options, but without the cardiotoxicity of anthracyclines. By addressing this unmet need, Pixuvri is an important new treatment option for physicians treating this group of patients," she added.