Phase II Study of SuperGen's Pentostatin (Nipent(R)), in Combination with Rituximab, Showed 71% Overall Response Rate Among Patients with Low-Grade Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL), and 'Remarkably Little Toxicity'
Data presented at "Innovative Cancer Therapy for Tomorrow" symposium sponsored by Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Chemotherapy Foundation
DUBLIN, Calif., Nov. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- SuperGen Inc. (Nasdaq: SUPG - news) announced today that data from an ongoing phase II study of its anticancer compound pentostatin (Nipent®) in combination with rituximab showed the regimen was ``remarkably well-tolerated in patients with indolent (low-grade) non-Hodgkin's disease,'' said Robert L. Drapkin, M.D., of U.S. Oncology South West Florida.
Dr. Drapkin presented his clinical data to colleagues attending this week's ``19th Annual Symposium on Innovative Cancer Therapy for Tomorrow'' in New York City, which is being co-sponsored by Mount Sinai School of Medicine and the Chemotherapy Foundation.
``The side effects from chemotherapy in general are quite common and often the most feared aspect of cancer treatment,'' said Dr. Drapkin. ``Therefore it is certainly good news that the combination of pentostatin with rituximab showed a remarkably low incidence of acute toxicity.
``In addition, we now have data on 40 of the 55 NHL patients in our study, suggesting an overall response rate of 71 percent and an 80 percent response rate among patients who were chemonaive coming into this study,'' Dr. Drapkin added. ``I believe survival will be enhanced because of the impressive activity of this combination in the near absence of significant toxicity.''
``Nipent has significant activity against a broad range of leukemias,'' said Dr. Joseph Rubinfeld, chairman and chief executive officer of SuperGen. ``Given the increasing clinical evidence of its efficacy, combined with Nipent's relatively benign side-effect profile, we look forward to continuing to devote the necessary resources toward developing this franchise compound for a number of important anticancer indications.'' |
