TREANDA Demonstrates Substantial Efficacy in Patients with Relapsed Indolent Non-Hodgkin'...( Final Data from Pivotal Study Pre...),Health

Final Data from Pivotal Study Presented at 49th American Society of

Hematology Meeting

FRAZER, Pa., Dec. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cephalon, Inc. (Nasdaq: CEPH) announced today that in a pivotal study of patients with indolent non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), whose disease has progressed during or following treatment with rituximab, TREANDA (bendamustine HCl) induced a high rate of response. TREANDA(R) is a novel investigational chemotherapy. According to the National Cancer Institute, an estimated 30,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed in 2007 with indolent NHL, a serious and slow growing cancer of the lymphatic system that is difficult to treat because patients are prone to relapse after treatment. The final data from this multicenter study were presented at the 49th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in Atlanta, GA [Poster # 505-I; Abstract #1351].

"The high response rate in this study suggest that bendamustine could offer substantial periods of remission to patients with indolent NHL whose cancer is progressing after treatment with rituximab," said Brad Kahl, MD, Associate Professor, Director Lymphoma Service, University of Wisconsin Paul P. Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the lead investigator of this study. "Because many patients with NHL eventually become resistant to treatment with rituximab and other therapies, new treatments are always required."

In this pivotal study of 100 patients with indolent NHL whose disease has progressed during or following treatment with rituximab, or a rituximab- containing regimen, as assessed by an independent radiological committee, 75 patients had a response. Of those patients who responded to treatment, 14 had a complete response and three had an unconfirmed complete response. The median duration of response was 9.2 months. Bendamustine demonstrated a manageable tolerability profile. As would be expected of a chemothera
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