MabCampath/Campath plus fludarabine offers improved treatment for CLL

A new study shows that combining the chemotherapy drug fludarabine with the monoclonal antibody MabCampath/Campath(alemtuzumab), from Genzyme, significantly increases progression free survival (PFS) and prolongs the lives of patients who have relapsed with the most common type of leukaemia, chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), compared with fludarabine alone. The findings suggest that this new drug combination could be a less toxic treatment. In addition the required dose of each drug is lower when used in combination than when the drugs are used alone, and the dosing schedule is more convenient for patients than the standard regimen, according to lead author Thomas Elter from the University of Cologne, Germany. The phase III trial randomly assigned CLL patients to either fludarabine plus MabCampath/Campath (168 patients) or fludarabine alone (167) for a maximum of six 28-day cycles. The researchers found that both PFS (23.7months vs 16.5 months) and overall survival were significantly better with the combination treatment than with fludarabine alone. Overall, both treatment groups experienced a similar number and severity of infectious complications. See: "Fludarabine plus alemtuzumab versus fludarabine alone in patients with previously treated chronic lymphocytic leukaemia: a randomised phase 3 trial" The Lancet Oncology, Early Online Publication, 11 October 2011 doi:10.1016/S1470-2045(11)70242-X.