J&J-Pharmacyclics drug shows potential in high-risk leukemia patients

(Reuters) – Pharmacyclics Inc said its cancer drug developed with a Johnson & Johnson unit improved overall response rate in high-risk leukemia patients. Those administered with Imbruvica showed an overall response rate of 88 percent, while 76.6 percent survived without the disease getting worse at 24 months. All 16 patients enrolled in the small study suffered from high-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and had failed to benefit from stem cell transplants and other therapies. Patients who relapse of CLL following stem cell transplant are hard to treat with chemotherapy as they do not produce enough blood cells or develop post-transplant complications.
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