Zevalin(R) Following Short-Course Chemotherapy with CHOP + Rituximab (CHOP-R) Doubles Complete Remission Rate in First-Line Treatment of Follicular Non- Hodgkin'...( SEATTLE Nov. 10 /- Cell Therapeut...),Health

SEATTLE, Nov. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (CTI) (Nasdaq and MTA: CTIC) announced today that Clinical Cancer Research has published in the November 1, 2008 issue the results of a study authored by Samual Jacobs et al. investigating the use of short-course CHOP-R followed by Zevalin ([90Y]-ibritumomab tiuxetan) and extended rituximab as first-line treatment in follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients. Addition of the Zevalin therapeutic regimen increased the complete responses from 40% for patients evaluated after 3 cycles of CHOP-R alone to 82% after the Zevalin regimen.

"This study adds to recently published First-line Indolent Trial (FIT) data indicating that the addition of Zevalin in patients who respond to first-line treatment of follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients may enhance the depth of response, even in patients whose induction therapy included rituximab-containing regimens," noted Jack Singer, M.D., Chief Medical Officer at Cell Therapeutics.

This trial enrolled 60 patients of which 55 patients completed all protocol therapy. Patients who had received no prior therapy with chemotherapy or monoclonal antibody received standard dose CHOP-R for 3 cycles followed by Zevalin then were treated with rituximab weekly for 4 doses. CHOP-R related toxicities included grade 3 to 4 neutropenia occurred in 23 (39%) patients and grade 3 to 4 thrombocytopenia occurred in 3 (5%) patients. The most frequent toxicity associated with Zevalin was myelosuppression. Grade 3 to 4 neutropenia occurred in 28 (51%) of patients with one incidence of febrile neutropenia requiring hospitalization. Grade 3 to 4 thrombocytopenia occurred in 44% of patients. However, all 55 patients who received Zevalin had normal white blood counts and platelet counts by after 12 weeks following administration.

Zevalin is currently approved in the United States for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory, low-grade or follicular B
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