Targeted Therapeutic Approved to Treat a Form of Lymphoma

The FDA approved zanubrutinib to treat patients with mantle cell lymphoma, an aggressive type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the molecularly targeted therapeutic zanubrutinib (Brukinsa) for the treatment of adult patients who have mantle cell lymphoma that has progressed despite at least one prior treatment.

Mantle cell lymphoma is a rare and aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. This type of lymphoma is more common in men than women and often diagnosed in people in their 60s and 70s, according to federal statistics.

The FDA approval was based on combined results from a phase II clinical trial involving 86 patients and a phase I/II clinical trial involving 32 patients. In both trials, 84 percent of the patients had partial or complete tumor shrinkage following treatment with zanubrutinib.