Efficacy and safety of biosimilar rituximab (ZytuxTM) in newly diagnosed patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) are considered parts of mature B cell neoplasms in WHO classification. They are both characterized by accumulation of B cells in blood, lymphoid tissues and bone marrow. Most of treatment protocols of NHL and CLL contain rituximab in addition to chemotherapy, which has been associated with improved survival. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of Zytux™ (AryoGen Pharmed) in newly diagnosed patients with NHL and CLL. A prospective single center study conducted at the National Center of Hematology, Mustansiriyah University, from January 2018 till October 2018. Twenty patients were included in this study, ten of them were NHL and ten patients were CLL. All patients were treated with Zytux™ in addition to designated protocol. All patient were followed up for 6 months and evaluated at the end of each protocol. There were 20 patients in this study; the overall median age for all patients in this study was 66 years. The median age was 57.5 years for NHL and 68.5 years for CLL. There were 13 males and 7 females in total, with male predominance in both groups. Regarding safety profile, Zytux™ demonstrated similar adverse reactions in comparison to MabThera® (Roche Spa). Moreover, the overall response rate in both groups was 85% with complete response achieved in 35% and partial response in remaining 50%.This study concluded that the early results of use of Zytux™ in NHL and CLL were not inferior to reference drug MabThera® in contrast it was comparable and even better in term of safety and efficacy.