(Reuters) -AbbVie said on Monday its treatment for a group of blood cancers failed to meet the main goal of significantly improving the overall survival of patients in a late-stage trial. The company was testing the drug, Venclexta, in newly-diagnosed patients with higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), a group of cancers in which the bone marrow […]
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AbbVie says blood cancer drug fails late-stage trial
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(Reuters) -AbbVie said on Monday its treatment for a group of blood cancers failed to meet the main goal of significantly improving the overall survival of patients in a late-stage trial.
The company was testing the drug, Venclexta, in newly-diagnosed patients with higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), a group of cancers in which the bone marrow doesn’t produce enough healthy blood cells.
According to the American Cancer Society, there are between 10,000 and 15,000 new cases of MDS each year in the country.
Venclexta is already approved for the treatment of another type of blood cancer called leukemia and is jointly developed by AbbVie and Swiss drugmaker Roche.
AbbVie said the new trial data does not impact any current approvals for the drug.
U.S.-based AbbVie reported global Venclexta sales of about $2.6 billion in 2024.
Venclexta works by blocking the action of the BCL-2 protein, which is responsible for prolonging the life of cancer cells.
The drug is also being tested for the treatment of other blood cancers such as non-Hodgkin lymphoma and multiple myeloma.
(Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)