Cephalon's Treanda wins U.S. approval in lymphoma

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Cephalon Inc won U.S. approval to sell its chemotherapy drug Treanda for treatment of patients with a type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the company said on Friday.

The drug was previously approved in March by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, the most common form of leukemia in the United States.

The latest approval applies to Treanda for the treatment of patients with indolent B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) that has progressed despite treatment with Rituxan, or a regimen containing Rituxan (rituximab).

An estimated 30,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed this year with indolent NHL, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Cephalon said a pivotal trial of Treanda showed that it delays progression of the disease for more than 9 months.

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