The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Rituxan (rituximab) to treat certain patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), a slowly progressing blood and bone marrow cancer.

Rituxan, an anti-cancer drug, is intended for patients with CLL who are beginning chemotherapy for the first time and for those who have not responded to other cancer drugs for CLL. Rituxan is administered with two other chemotherapy drugs, fludarabine and cyclophosphamide.

CLL primarily affects people older than 50 and arises from a group of white blood cells known as B-cells—part of the body’s immune system. Each year, about 16,000 people are diagnosed with and 4,400 die from CLL.

Date: February 21, 2010
Source: Associated Press