J&J and Ab­b­Vie's block­buster BTK in­hibitor scoops a pe­di­atric in­di­ca­tion in graft-ver­sus-host dis­ease

As J&J and Ab­b­Vie duke it out with As­traZeneca and oth­er BTK com­peti­tors in chron­ic lym­pho­cyt­ic leukemia (CLL), the part­ners are cel­e­brat­ing a first for Im­bru­vi­ca in a pe­di­atric pop­u­la­tion.

Im­bru­vi­ca won ap­proval on Wednes­day as a sec­ond-line treat­ment for chron­ic graft ver­sus host dis­ease (cGVHD) in chil­dren one year and old­er, a con­di­tion in which donor cells at­tack the re­cip­i­ent af­ter a stem cell or bone mar­row trans­plant. It af­fects be­tween 52% and 65% of all chil­dren who re­ceive al­lo­gene­ic trans­plants, ac­cord­ing to Janssen and Ab­b­Vie — and un­til now, there were no ap­proved treat­ments for that age group.

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