Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia who were treated with a combination of Novartis’s drug Arzerra (ofatumumab) plus chlorambucil chemotherapy had a median of 22.4 months without disease progression compared to the 13.1 months of progression-free status among chemotherapy-only patients.

This translates into a 71% difference.

The Phase-III test was among previously untreated patients. Arzerra is already approved as a chemo-combination therapy for previously untreated CLL patients for whom fludarabine chemotherapy is inappropriate.