New leukaemia drug hope

Published on Monday 8 June 2009 22:02

AROUND 1,850 leukaemia sufferers in Scotland can today be offered hope by a life-extending drug that has been made available on the NHS.

Rituximab, marketed as MabThera, halts the progression of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) for almost a year longer than chemotherapy alone.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has approved the drug for prescription by doctors to people with CLL, the UK's most common form of leukaemia. The drug already has clinical approval as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

When used in combination with fludarabine and cyclophosphamide (FC) chemotherapy for previously untreated patients, the drug more than doubles the number of CLL patients achieving complete remission.

Dr John Davies, consultant haematologist at Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, said: "The addition of rituximab to chemotherapy is a major advance in the treatment of CLL and this is very welcome news for the entire CLL community."