Besponsa is a cancer medicine used to treat a type of blood cancer which affects B cells (a type of white blood cells) called B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). Besponsa is used on its own in adults whose cancer has come back or did not respond to previous treatment.
Besponsa is only used in patients with ‘CD22-positive B-cell precursor ALL’. This means that patients’ have a particular protein (CD22) on the surface of their white blood cells. In patients who have a type of chromosome known as Philadelphia-chromosome, treatment with a cancer medicine called a tyrosine kinase inhibitor should have been tried before starting Besponsa.
Because the number of patients with B-cell precursor ALL is low, the disease is considered ‘rare’, and Besponsa was designated an ‘orphan medicine’ (a medicine used in rare diseases) on 7 June 2013.
Besponsa contains the active substance inotuzumab ozogamicin.
How is BESPONSA different from chemotherapy?
BESPONSA is a type of medicine called an antibody-drug conjugate. BESPONSA is designed to find and attach to a specific protein, called CD22, found on leukemia cells
Once BESPONSA attaches to the CD22 protein, it enters the cell to deliver the drug, causing cell death
By specifically targeting CD22, BESPONSA may offer different benefits and tolerability than chemotherapy
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