Cancer drug hopes

Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, England), Feb 28, 2008

PATIENTS with a common lymphatic cancer should be entitled to long-term treatment with an antibody drug that can significantly improve their survival, say watchdog experts.

Trial results have shown that maintenance treatment with rituximab can almost halve the risk of death for patients with follicular non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).

Average disease-free living for those taking the drug is extended from 14.9 months to more than four years.

The new guidance from the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) recommends using rituximab - marketed as Mab Thera - to manage NHL in England and Wales.

Each year around 5,200 men and 4,700 women in the UK are diagnosed with NHL, and the incidence of the disease is rising at 3.7% per year.

Rituximab, launched 10 years ago, is the world's first synthetic antibody licensed for cancer treatment in the UK.

Dr Premini Mahendri, haematologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, said: "Rituximab is continuing to revolutionise the management of NHL.

"The positive Nice guidance for rituximab in the maintenance setting represents a significant step forward."