Halozyme Therapeutics and Roche have dosed the first patient with subcutaneous (SC) MabThera (rituximab), an anti-cancer biologic, in a Phase III trial using Enhanze technology (rHuPH20, recombinant human hyaluronidase).
MabThera is currently approved to treat non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) and chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) using treatments that are administered intravenously.
The new technology allows patients with NHL to receive MabThera in less than ten minutes through an SC injection at their physician office.
The administration of SC MabThera enables patients with NHL to receive much shorter drug administration.
In addition, SC MabThera administration outside IV infusion centre or hospital settings could reduce costs and help maximise the efficient use of hospital resources.
SC MabThera has been developed through a collaboration between Halozyme and Roche collaboration, in which Halozyme agreed to apply its proprietary Enhanze technology to Roche’s biological therapeutic compounds.
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is cancer of the lymphoid tissue and the disease is diagnosed in 356,000 people worldwide each year according to the WHO.
