What is the difference between Truxima and Rituxan?
Truxima (rituximab-abbs) is a biosimilar to Rituxan (rituximab). While both drugs are CD20-directed cytolytic antibodies used to treat non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), Rituxan has additional FDA-approved indications beyond NHL.
What Is a Biosimilar?
Biosimilars are highly similar to an already-approved biological product and have no clinically meaningful differences in terms of safety, purity, and potency.
FDA-Approved Uses: Truxima vs. Rituxan
Truxima and Rituxan belong to the class of drugs called CD20-directed cytolytic antibodies.
Both medications are approved for the treatment of adult patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL):
- Relapsed or refractory, low grade or follicular, CD20-positive B-cell NHL as a single agent.
- Previously untreated follicular, CD20-positive, B-cell NHL in combination with first line chemotherapy and, in patients achieving a complete or partial response to a rituximab product in combination with chemotherapy, as single-agent maintenance therapy.
- Non-progressing (including stable disease), low-grade, CD20-positive, B-cell NHL as a single agent after first-line cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisone (CVP) chemotherapy.
- Previously untreated diffuse large B-cell, CD20-positive NHL in combination with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (CHOP) or other anthracycline-based chemotherapy regimens.
Rituxan is additionally indicated for several other medical conditions in adults patients, including:
- Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL):
- Previously untreated and previously treated CD20-positive CLL in combination with fludarabine and cyclophosphamide (FC).
- Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA):
- In combination with methotrexate in adult patients with moderately-to severely-active RA who have inadequate response to one or more TNF antagonist therapies.
- Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (GPA) (Wegener’s Granulomatosis) and Microscopic Polyangiitis (MPA)
- in combination with glucocorticoids inpatients two years of age and older.
- Pemphigus Vulgaris (PV):
- Moderate to severe disease in adult patients.
It is also approved to treat children 6 years and older with mature B-cell NHL and mature B-cell acute leukemia.
For more information, see What Are Biosimilars? Top Facts You May Not Know
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References
- Rituxan [package insert]. Updated January 2025. Genentech, Inc. Accessed March 25, 2025 at https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=b172773b-3905-4a1c-ad95-bab4b6126563
- Truxima [package insert]. Updated December 2024. Cephalon, Inc. Accessed March 25, 2025 at https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=9af3ddc7-4217-417a-ac89-8704edc5bc44
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