The drug Bexxar® - for the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma has been found to be effective in the long term - according to University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers.

According to Mark Kaminski, M.D., professor of internal medicine at the U-M Medical School:

"For years we have known radioimmunotherapy such as Bexxar is one of the most effective treatments for patients with relapsed follicular lymphoma. These data show Bexxar is particularly effective when used as a frontline treatment.

These results compare quite favorably with those achieved with state-of-the-art chemotherapy regimens that take months to deliver. But Bexxar is given as a single treatment, completed within one week, which makes it an extremely convenient regimen for patients."

Patented by the University of Michigan, Bexxar® (Tositumomab and Iodine I 131 Tositumomab) is being marketed by GlaxoSmithKline under a license agreement and has received FDA approval in June 2003 for the treatment of follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma after other treatments have failed.

The lymph system is a part of the immune system. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is a cancer of the lymph system (the 6th leading cause of cancer death in the U.S.) while follicular lymphoma is the second most common type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

[Traditional treatment often involves intensive chemotherapy, or a combination of chemotherapy and the monoclonal antibody rituximab.]

The new findings above have proved Bexxar®'s capacity as a first-line treatment for follicular lymphoma.

Find more details from the full report.

[Photo Credit: University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center]