Hi Rich. Here we are in 2002 [over a year since your post]. Congratulations to IDEC and all those involved in getting Zevalin to patients. Thanks Rich [not that I have any use for it at present and long may that continue.
laurushealth.com
<LOS ANGELES, Feb 20 (Reuters) - The first drug aimed at delivering cancer-killing radiation directly to tumors has received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for use in lymphoma patients, Biotechnology company IDEC Pharmaceuticals Corp said Tuesday.
The drug, called Zevalin (ibritumomab tiuxetan), was approved to treat patients with low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma that are no longer responding to Rituxan (rituximab), an antibody drug IDEC co-markets with Genentech Inc.
San Diego, California-based IDEC estimated that commercial shipments of Zevalin will begin in about 30 to 60 days. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is the fifth most common type of cancer diagnosed in the United States, where it currently affects about 300,000 people.
Zevalin is the first treatment to use "radioimmunotherapy'' to kill tumors. Like Rituxan, the drug looks for certain molecules on cancer cells. But unlike the earlier drug, which binds to targeted cells to block tumor growth and recruit the body's immune system to attack the target, Zevalin is "armed'' with a radioactive isotope so when it attaches to cancer cells it delivers a dose of lethal radiation.
By sending radiation throughout the body intravenously, the treatment could seek and kill several tumor sites at once. Traditional external radiation requires focusing on one tumor at a time, but it is not selective and can damage healthy cells along with cancer cells.
"Zevalin is a significant step forward in managing patients with adequate bone marrow reserves who have failed standard chemotherapy...or a combination of chemotherapy and Rituxan," Dr. Thomas Witzig, a hematologist at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, and a key investigator in clinical trials of Zevalin, said. "And, unlike standard chemotherapy, which is given over as many as 4 to 6 months, Zevalin can be administered in an outpatient setting over eight days with approximately 12 weeks of follow-up." .... contd...>
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