Genentech received FDA approval for Rituxan (rituximab) injection to treat polyangiitis (GPA) and microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) in children two years of age and older in combination with steroid hormones.

Rituximab was approved in 2011 for treatment of adults with the rare disease that causes inflammation of small blood vessels. It is currently approved for four other diseases, including non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

The approval was based on a pediatric trial of 25 patients ages six to 17 years with active GPA and MPA who were treated with Rituxan, which showed that 14 patients were in remission after six months of treatment, and all 25 patients were in remission after 18 months.