Treanda Approved For Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Treatment

FDA has approved Treanda for chronic lymphocytic leukemia treatment. The drug is produced by pharmaceutical company Cephalon.

A study of 301 chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients compared Treanda (bendamustine hydrochloride) to Leukeran (chlorambucil) - the most widespread drug for CLL treatment. Treanda showed significantly more life quality improvement, compared to Leukeran.

59% of those taking Treanda showed disease symptoms significantly reduced, compared to 26% those taking Leukeran. After receiving the entire session of treatment, 8% of those taking Treanda did not have any symptoms, compared to only 1% those taking Leukeran.

Treanda will be available in April 2008. It is also submitted for FDA review for non-Hodgkin lymphoma treatment. FDA will announce the decision in October 2008.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia is a type of blood and bone marrow cancer. It is slow in growing compared to other types of leukemia. The disease has no cure yet, but some of patients live long with CLL. According to American Cancer Society's report, an estimated 15110 new cases of CLL will be reported during 2008, 4390 people will die from the disease.