Evaluating biosimilar rituximab for patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma

This study compared the safety and effectiveness of BCD-020 (biosimilar rituximab) to rituximab (Rituxan) in patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). This study found that BCD-020 was just as effective as standard rituximab, with manageable side effects.

Rituximab is commonly used in the treatment of NHL. Rituximab is a monoclonal antibody, which works by helping the body’s immune system attack cancer cells. Although effective, rituximab can be costly in many countries around the world. As a result, biosimilar rituximab has been under development.

A biosimilar is a biological drug that is highly similar to an already-approved biological drug. BCD-020 is a biosimilar of rituximab. This means it is similar to rituximab. However, whether it is as safe and effective for the treatment of NHL is unclear.

This study had 174 patients with NHL. 89 patients received BCD-020 and 85 patients received standard rituximab. Patients were treated for 4 weeks. Patients were followed up at 50 days after treatment.

Overall, slightly more patients in the BCD-020 group responded to treatment compared to standard rituximab (44.71% vs. 41.89%). Slightly more patients in the BCD-020 group had no signs of cancer after treatment compared to standard rituximab (7.06% vs. 5.41%). A similar number of patients in both groups had tumor shrinkage (47.06% vs. 43.24%).

68.54% of patients treated with BCD-020 had side effects compared to 69.41% in the rituximab group. The most common side effects were low white blood cell count (24.72% vs. 27.06%), high blood glucose levels (22.46% vs. 16.47%), and low red blood cell count (15.73% vs. 16.47%). 5.62% of patients treated with BCD-020 reported serious side effects compared to 3.53% in the rituximab group. 

This study found that BCD-020 was just as safe and effective as standard rituximab for patients with NHL. The authors suggest that BCD-020 may help make treatment more accessible to patients.

This study had a small number of patients. More studies with larger patient populations are needed to confirm these results. This study was funded by JSC Biocad, the manufacturer of BCD-020.