ABBV AbbVie Inc

   By Stephen Nakrosis 
 

AbbVie Inc. (ABBV) on Wednesday said Quebec will be the first Canadian province to reimburse a combination treatment of Venclexta with Rituximab as for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Venclexta is being developed by AbbVie and Roche. In the U.S., it is jointly commercialized by AbbVie and Genentech, a member of the Roche Group. AbbVie is commercializing Venclexta outside of the U.S.

AbbVie said under an agreement reached with the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance, the Venclexta combination will be used to treat patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia who have received at least one prior therapy.

In Canada, CLL accounts for about 1,745 newly diagnosed cases of leukemia each year, and is responsible for more than 600 deaths a year, AbbVie said.

--Write to Stephen Nakrosis at stephen.nakrosis@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 18, 2019 15:35 ET (20:35 GMT)

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