The treatment starts with an infusion of rituximab. This may be followed by an administration of indium-111 labeled ibritumomab tiuxetan (111In replaces the 90Y component) to allow the distribution of the medication to be imaged on a gamma camera, before the actual therapy is administered.[6]
Developed by IDEC Pharmaceuticals, now part of Biogen Idec,[8] ibritumomab tiuxetan was the first radioimmunotherapy drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2002 to treat cancer. It was approved for the treatment of people with relapsed or refractory, low‑grade or follicular B‑cell non‑Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), including people with rituximab refractory follicular NHL.[9] It was given marketing authorization by the European Medicines Agency in 2004 for the treatment of adults with rituximab relapsed or refractory CD20+ follicular B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma but.[1] The authorization lapsed in July 2024, after it wasn't marketed for more than three consecutive years.[1]
In September 2009, ibritumomab tiuxetan received approval from the FDA for an expanded label to include previously untreated people with a chemotherapy response.[5]
Society and culture
Economics
Ibritumomab tiuxetan is under patent protection and not available in generic form. When approved, it was the most expensive medication available given in a single dose, costing over US$37,000 (€30,000) for the average dose.[10][11] Compared with other monoclonal antibody treatments (many of which are well over $40,000 for a course of therapy), it may be considered cost effective.[10][12]
References
^ abc"Zevalin EPAR". European Medicines Agency. 2 March 2009. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
^"Ibritumomab Tiuxetan". National Cancer Institute. 26 February 2008. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
^Tennvall J, Fischer M, Bischof Delaloye A, Bombardieri E, Bodei L, Giammarile F, et al. (April 2007). "EANM procedure guideline for radio-immunotherapy for B-cell lymphoma with 90Y-radiolabelled ibritumomab tiuxetan (Zevalin)". European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. 34 (4): 616–622. doi:10.1007/s00259-007-0372-y. PMID17323056. S2CID8951564.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: overridden setting (link)
^Grillo-López AJ (October 2002). "Zevalin: the first radioimmunotherapy approved for the treatment of lymphoma". Expert Review of Anticancer Therapy. 2 (5): 485–93. doi:10.1586/14737140.2.5.485. PMID12382517. S2CID20940701.