FDA approves Roche’s Rituxan (rituximab) in children with two rare blood vessel disorders

FDA approves Roche’s Rituxan (rituximab) in children with two rare blood vessel disorders

Roche has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Rituxan® (rituximab), in combination with glucocorticoids, for the treatment of granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) and microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) in paediatric patients 2 years of age and older. GPA and MPA are rare, potentially life-threatening diseases affecting small and medium sized blood vessels.

“Rituxan is now approved as the first and only medicine for paediatric patients living with GPA and MPA, two potentially life-threatening blood vessel disorders which are rare in children,” said Sandra Horning, M.D., Roche’s Chief Medical Officer and Head of Global Product Development. “Today’s approval is a result of our ongoing commitment to working with the FDA to develop medicines for paediatric patients with rare diseases where there is a serious unmet need.”

The approval is based on data from the PePRS study, a Phase IIa, global, open-label, multicentre single-arm study investigating the safety, pharmacokinetics, exploratory efficacy and pharmacodynamic outcomes of intravenous MabThera/Rituxan in 25 patients with active GPA or MPA between 6 and 17 years of age. Treatment with four weekly infusions of MabThera/Rituxan in combination with a tapering course of oral glucocorticoids was assessed in newly diagnosed or relapsing active GPA or MPA paediatric patients. Of the 25 patients in the study, 19 had GPA and 6 had MPA at baseline. Efficacy was an exploratory endpoint and primarily assessed using the Paediatric Vasculitis Activity Score (PVAS). Efficacy assessment showed that 56% of patients achieved PVAS remission by month 6, 92% by month 12, and 100% of patients achieved remission by month 18. The safety profile of MabThera/Rituxan in patients with paediatric GPA and MPA was consistent in type, nature and severity with the known safety profile of MabThera/Rituxan in adult patients with GPA and MPA, rheumatoid arthritis and pemphigus vulgaris.

The FDA previously granted Priority Review to Rituxan for the treatment of GPA and MPA in paediatric patients. In 2011, Rituxan became the first and only therapy approved by the FDA for the treatment of adults with these two rare forms of vasculitis. MabThera/Rituxan is currently indicated for the treatment of four autoimmune conditions and since 2006 more than 900,000 people have been treated with MabThera/Rituxan for autoimmune conditions worldwide. MabThera/Rituxan is not indicated in children less than 2 years of age with GPA or MPA, or in children with conditions outside of GPA and MPA.