In late 1997 the FDA approved Rituxan, made by San Diego-based idec Pharmaceuticals Corp.
Rituxan and Orencia, an RA drug from Bristol-Myers Squibb, give doctors an expanded arsenal.
Genentech has never received an action letter from the FDA for its marketing of Rituxan.
By buying IDEC, Genentech could have gotten all of the Rituxan sales to itself.
Biogen Idec and Genentech are fighting over the rights to the Rituxan-like drug and have entered arbitration.
Scott Woolley Cancer treatment Three years ago we wrote about Rituxan, a promising experimental drug for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Big selling cancer drugs like Rituxan, Avastin and Erbitux are antibodies against signaling molecules that spur tumor growth.
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The trial of Genentech and Biogen Idec's lymphoma drug, Rituxan, in diabetes progression could report results later this year.
Another promising treatment: an anti-CD20 antibody--kind of a second-generation Rituxan--that Genentech plans to test against rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and multiple sclerosis.
Rituxan is sold through a joint venture between Genentech and Biogen-Idec (nasdaq: BIIB - news - people ).
Doctors are testing a variety of immune system stabilizers in diabetics, including Genentech's cancer drug rituximab (sold under the brand Rituxan).
Unlike chemotherapy, which uses chemicals to poison cancer cells, Rituxan's monoclonal antibody kills tumor cells much as the body's own antibodies kill invading germs.
One promising entrant is Rituxan, a drug made by Genentech (nyse: DNA - news - people ) to treat non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
Aside from being a difficult disease to treat, scant data from its failed trail with the drug Rituxan leave investors with little guidance going forward.
Recently, Genentech and Biogen revealed that patients taking Rituxan had come down with the same virus, which only afflicts people whose immune systems have become weakened.
Rituxan, the cancer drug sold by Genentech and IDEC Pharmaceuticals (nasdaq: IDPH - news - people ), is already being tested for the same disease.
Rachel Leheny: Genentech has the broadest product portfolio of any other biotechnology company, and of those products Rituxan and Herceptin do have the bulk of growth in sales.
Humira, Enbrel, Rituxan, Herceptin and Lantus being the chief candidates.
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The trial of Genentech and Biogen Idec (nasdaq: BIIB - news - people )'s lymphoma drug, Rituxan, in diabetes progression could report results later this year.
The most successful offspring is Idec Pharmaceuticals (nasdaq: IDPH - news - people ), which, with help from Genentech, developed Rituxan, a monoclonal antibody for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Doctors are testing a variety of immune system stabilizers in diabetics, including Genentech (nyse: DNA - news - people )'s cancer drug rituximab (sold under the brand Rituxan).
But in a note to investors this morning, Winton Gibbons, a health care analyst at William Blair, said he believes the probe probably relates to doctors using Rituxan for so-called off-label uses.
Genentech and Biogen Idec said Tuesday that a key study of the drug Rituxan did not meet its main goal of a response in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, commonly called lupus.
And Rituxan shows promise for rheumatoid arthritis sufferers.
Meanwhile IDEC has been the subject of constant merger speculation because it gets 30% of sales from top-selling cancer drug Rituxan, which is co-marketed with Genentech (nyse: DNA - news - people ).
And that's before you consider that partners Genentech and Elan (nyse: ELN - news - people ) would probably use a merger to renegotiate their rights to two of Biogen's most important drugs, Rituxan for cancer and Tysabri.
If ImClone Systems ' (nasdaq: IMCL - news - people ) Erbitux failed a clinical trial, other monoclonal antibodies, such as Genentech 's (nyse: DNA - news - people ) Rituxan, wouldn't be thrown out.
Amgen and Watson did not disclose which drugs they will focus on, but some of the biggest drugs in the world are anti-cancer antibodies, and many, including top-seller Rituxan, from Roche and Biogen, and Herceptin, also from Roche, were approved nearly two decades ago.
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Genentech (nyse: DNA - news - people ) and Biogen Idec (nasdaq: BIIB - news - people ) said Tuesday that a key study of the drug Rituxan did not meet its main goal of a response in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, commonly called lupus.
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