Pharmacyclics, Inc. (PCYC) announced encouraging data on its oncology drug, Imbruvica. It was found that the use of Imbruvica in treatment-naive and previously treated patients suffering from chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) resulted in a significant response rate, with 92% of high-risk CLL patients with deletion 17p (del 17p) or tumor protein 53 achieving an objective response. These data were published in The Lancet Oncology.
The results were impressive considering that these high-risk patients generally do not respond well to standard therapies.
As per data from the American Cancer Society, approximately 16,000 CLL patients are diagnosed every year.
Imbruvica is currently approved for three indications including the treatment of patients with mantle cell lymphoma or CLL who have received at least one previous therapy and for CLL patients with a deletion of the short arm of chromosome 17.
The company is working on expanding the Imbruvica label and evaluating the drug for small lymphocytic lymphoma, Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma among others. The FDA is expected to render a final opinion on the marketing application for Imbruvica for patients with Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia by Apr 17, 2015.
We note that Imbruvica is Pharmacyclics’ sole marketed product. The company has an agreement with Janssen Biotech, a Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) company, for Imbruvica.
We are encouraged by Pharmacyclics’ efforts to expand the drug’s label further.
Pharmacyclics currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the health care sector include Allergan Inc. (AGN) and AbbVie Inc. (ABBV), both carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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