- Gene Discovery Points to a New Form of Alzheimer’s
- Scientists May Have Located Your Brain’s ‘Neural Compass’
- Almost All Counterfeit Oxycontin Pills Contain Fentanyl
- A Parent’s Watchful Eye Does Keep Kids From Drugs, Alcohol: Study
- AI Might Boost Detection of A-Fib
- Drug May Help Folks Kick the Vaping Habit
- Small Pump May Let Kids Stay Home As They Await New Heart
- Gene Therapy Improves Vision in People With Inherited Blindness
- Parental Deaths to Guns, Drugs Harmed Nearly 100,000 U.S. Kids in 2020
- Money Worries Top Seniors’ List of Health-Related Concerns: Poll
Imbruvica Approval Expanded to Include Chronic Leukemia
U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of Imbruvica (ibrutinib) has been expanded to include people with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who have tried at least one other anti-cancer therapy.
CLL progresses slowly, gradually leading to an increase in white blood cells called B lymphocytes. Last year, some 15,680 Americans were diagnosed with CLL and 4,580 died from it, the agency said Wednesday in a news release, citing the National Cancer Institute.
Imbruvica was approved last November to treat people with mantle cell lymphoma.
Approval for CLL was based on clinical studies involving 48 people, the FDA said. Some 58 percent of participants had their cancer shrink after treatment.
Among the most common side effects of the drug were: low blood platelets, diarrhea, bruising, upper respiratory tract infection, fatigue and muscle pain.
Imbruvica is manufactured by Pharmacyclics, based in Sunnyvale, Calif.
More information
The FDA has more about this approval.
Source: HealthDay
Copyright © 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.