Rituxan meets RA, CLL endpoints

Biogen Idec (NASDAQ:BIIB), Genentech (NYSE:DNA) and Roche (SWX:ROG) said Rituxan rituximab plus methotrexate met the primary endpoint of a significant improvement in ACR 20 response rate vs. methotrexate plus placebo in the double-blind Phase III SERENE trial to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in 509 biologic-naive patients. The drug, in combination with chemotherapy, also met the primary endpoint of a significant increase in progression-free survival vs. chemotherapy alone in the Phase III CLL8 trial to treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in 817 patients. ...