SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug for treating a rare and aggressive type of blood cancer, the agency said Wednesday.
The FDA announced the approval of Imbruvica (ibrutinib), marketed by Pharmacyclics and Johnson & Johnson, for treating mantle cell lymphoma, or MCL. MCL is a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and represents about 6% of all non-Hodgkin lymphoma cases in the United States. Millennium Pharmaceuticals' Velcade (bortezomib) and Celgene's Revlimid (lenalidomide) are also approved for treating MCL.