Pharmacyclics' Phase 2 Mantle Cell Lymphoma Study Results Published in New England Journal of Medicine

Pharmacyclics

today announced that The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) published results of a Phase 2 study evaluating the investigational oral Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor ibrutinib in patients with relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) online. These data suggested ibrutinib may be effective and generally well-tolerated in patients with relapsed/refractory MCL. Results of a separate study examining the safety and efficacy of ibrutinib monotherapy for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL), some of whom had deletion of part of chromosome 17 (del 17p), has also been published online by The NEJM. Pharmacyclics sponsored both studies and is jointly developing ibrutinib with Janssen Research & Development, LLC. "There remains a significant unmet need for patients with MCL," said lead author Michael Wang, M.D., Department of Lymphoma/Myeloma, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. "These data are exciting because they demonstrate that the longer MCL patients are treated with ibrutinib the better they respond to the treatment." The study evaluated 111 patients with relapsed/refractory MCL treated with ibrutinib. The majority of patients (86 percent) had intermediate or high-risk MCL and had previously undergone