Genmab Announces Positive New Findings

Genmab A/S has announced their results from a Phase II study of ofatumumab in combination with salvage chemotherapy to treat relapsed or refractory aggressive lymphoma, including Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma – and the findings look promising.

For the purposes of their analysis, researchers looked at 61 patients with aggressive lymphoma who had continuous or progressive disease after their first-line treatment. This first-line treatment featured rituximab coupled with chemotherapy. The overall response rate (ORR) was 61%. Furthermore, there were no strange, out-of-the-ordinary safety findings. The most common grade 3 or higher adverse events were thrombocytopenia (59% of pts), anemia (36%), neutropenia (26%), lymphopenia (23%), leukopenia (18%), febrile neutropenia (13%) and hypokalemia (13%).

According to the company’s press release, all of the data found will be presented at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in San Diego, U.S, this December.

Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma is a cancerous formation of B-lymphocytes. It represents, amazingly enough, 30 percent of non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas in adults and is the more common lymphoid malignancy in the western world.
In the U.S., ofataumumab is utilized in treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) refractory to fludarabine and alemtuzumab.

Anyone is concerned that they may have a lymphoma of any variety should contact their local health specialist as soon as possible.