Rituxan looks good in Phase II

Just read a Reuters story reporting on promising results of a Stage II clinical trial of Rituxan, a drug developed for treating lymphoma:

The number of lesions at weeks 12, 16, 20 and 24 was statistically far lower in the Rituxan group. At week 24, the total number of lesions was reduced by 91 percent -- to an average of 0.5 per patient in the Rituxan-treated group, compared with 5.5 lesions in the placebo arm of the trial.

"In addition, the proportion of patients with relapses over 24 weeks in the Rituxan-treated arm was 14.5 percent compared to 34.3 percent in the placebo arm," representing a 58 percent relative decrease, the drugmakers [Genentech and Biogen] said in a joint release.

Link.