Bexxar: Effective First-Line Treatment for Lymphoma

Mark Kaminski Photo: Martin Vloet

Bexxar, a cancer therapy developed by scientists at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center, is an effective first-line treatment for patients with advanced-stage follicular lymphoma — a cancer previously considered to be incurable — according to a study published in the February 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Of 76 patients enrolled in the study, 95 percent responded to the treatment and 75 percent had a complete response, meaning no evidence of cancer remained. More than three-quarters of patients with a complete remission were disease-free after five years.

According to Mark Kaminski, M.D., professor of internal medicine and director of the study, results from a one-week treatment with Bexxar rivaled those of other treatments for follicular lymphoma. Plus, Bexxar treatment took less time and produced fewer side effects. The drug was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2003 for use in patients with follicular lymphoma after other treatments have failed. The new study evaluated Bexxar as a first-line treatment for the disease.

Kaminski and his colleague Richard Wahl, M.D., formerly at the U-M and now at Johns Hopkins University, developed the Bexxar regimen. The University of Michigan holds patents for the Bexxar therapeutic regimen, which is marketed by GlaxoSmithKline under a licensing agreement.

—NF

Read an expanded version of this story: www.med.umich.edu/opm/newspage/2005/bexxar.htm

For patient information about non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma: www.cancer.med.umich.edu/learn/lymphomainfo.htm