FDA Grants Priority Review For Genentech’s Rituxan® (Rituximab) For Pemphigus Vulgaris

Genentech recently announced an important FDA decision that could potentially impact future treatment options for pemphigus. Here at the IPPF, it’s especially exciting when we get to share good news related to research and treatments. The full press release from Genentech can be found here. The following is an excerpt:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted Genentech’s Supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) and granted Priority Review for the use of Rituxan® (rituximab) for the treatment of pemphigus vulgaris (PV). Last year, the FDA granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation and Orphan Drug Designation to Rituxan for the treatment of PV.

“We are committed to developing medicines for rare diseases with limited treatment options, such as pemphigus vulgaris,” said Sandra Horning, M.D., chief medical officer and head of Global Product Development. “We look forward to continued work with the FDA to hopefully provide patients with a new treatment for this serious and potentially life-threatening disease.”

The sBLA submission is based on data from a Roche-supported randomized trial conducted in France which evaluated Rituxan plus a tapering regimen of low dose oral corticosteroid (CS) treatment compared to a standard dose of CS alone as a first-line treatment in patients with newly diagnosed moderate to severe pemphigus. Results of the study show that Rituxan provides substantial improvement in pemphigus vulgaris remission rates and successful tapering and/or cessation of CS therapy. These results were published in The Lancet in March 2017. Genentech is currently conducting another Phase III study in PV which is evaluating Rituxan plus a tapering regimen of CS compared to Cellcept (PEMPHIX, NCT02383589).

Read Genentech’s press release, including additional information and references, here.