AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV), a global biopharmaceutical company, today announced that results from a Phase 1b trial of investigational venetoclax, a novel inhibitor of the B-cell lymphoma-2 (BCL-2) protein that is being developed in partnership with Genentech and Roche, in combination with bortezomib and dexamethasone, showed an 83 percent overall response rate (n=5/6) in bortezomib-naive patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) multiple myeloma, including two patients who achieved complete responses.1 These data will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting on Sunday, May 31, in Chicago.
AbbVie will also present during ASCO a separate Phase 1 monotherapy study in heavily pre-treated patients with R/R multiple myeloma, which showed an overall response rate of 29 percent (n=2/7) in patients with t(11;14) chromosomal abnormality.2
Multiple myeloma is the second most common blood cancer and begins in plasma cells in the bone marrow.3 When plasma cells in the marrow become cancerous, they can grow uncontrollably and form tumors, typically developing in the bone. When a patient has multiple plasma cell tumors, they have multiple myeloma.
"Multiple myeloma remains a high area of unmet medical need and additional research to identify new therapies is important," said Cyrille Touzeau, M.D., Department of Hematology, University of Nantes, France. "The response rates shown in these studies suggest potential of venetoclax in this patient population and warrant further evaluation."
"We are extremely encouraged by these results and will continue evaluating this compound in a variety of tumor types, including additional studies in patients with multiple myeloma," said Gary Gordon, M.D., vice president, oncology clinical development, AbbVie.
Investigation of venetoclax in several additional blood cancers is currently ongoing.
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