AbbVie blockbuster fails in pancreatic cancer study

Jan. 21, 2019

AbbVie said its blockbuster cancer treatment, Imbruvica, in combination with chemotherapy agents, failed to meet the main goal in a late-stage study of patients with a form of pancreatic cancer.

The treatment failed to show statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) or overall survival in metastatic pancreatic cancer patients, compared with the combination of placebo and two chemotherapy agents.

Imbruvica, jointly sold with Johnson and Johnson, is an oral drug designed to target an enzyme known as Bruton’s tyrosine kinase and block the function of certain cancerous cells. The drug brought in revenue of $2.57 billion for AbbVie in 2017. It was first approved in November 2013 and is currently approved in six disease areas with nine treatment indications.

Read the Reuters coverage