Roche announced that updated results of the pivotal phase-III study, CLL8, will be one of many key presentations at the forthcoming 51st Annual Meeting of the American Society of Haematology (ASH) in New Orleans.

Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) is the most common type of leukaemia in adults, accounting for approximately 30 to 40 per cent of all forms of leukemia in Western countries. The randomized CLL8 trial examines whether patients with previously untreated CLL live longer when they receive MabThera/Rituxan plus fludarabine and cyclophosphamide (FC) chemotherapy rather than FC alone. Initial results of the CLL8 trial were presented at ASH in 2008. The updated results of the CLL8 trial, which will feature in an oral presentation, are based on longer follow-up time.

A randomized phase-III study comparing MabThera/Rituxan with two different chemotherapy regimens as first-line treatment of patients with advanced follicular, indolent and mantle cell lymphomas, will be highlighted in the official ASH press programme. Abstracts selected for inclusion in the press programme are those identified by ASH as congress highlights.

More than 40 abstracts are being presented in oral sessions and 120 in poster sessions covering trials that show the essential role MabThera/Rituxan plays in the treatment of CLL, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, and indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, among others. The data confirms MabThera/Rituxan as the standard of care in hematological cancers, with over 1.9 million patient exposures recorded worldwide since MabThera/Rituxan launch in 1997.