To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: Canada Approves Rituxan (Rituximab), New Class Of Drugs For Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/195A5A.htm Doctor's Guide April 5, 2000
TORONTO, ON -- April 5, 2000 -- There's hope for the 15,000 Canadians with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), one of the fastest growing cancers worldwide. Rituxan(R) (rituximab), just approved by Health Canada for NHL, is the first in a new class of medications called monoclonal antibodies, which target the underlying cause of some cancers. NHL is a cancer of the lymph system that kills white blood cells. "Rituxan's precision is state-of-the-art," concluded Dr. Berinstein, a medical oncologist and director of The Advanced Therapeutics Program at the Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre. For decades, standard treatment for NHL has been chemotherapy and/or radiation, leaving patients open to toxic side-effects (hair loss, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, increased susceptibility to infection). In clinical trials, the most common side-effects with Rituxan were infusion-related, consisting of flu-like symptoms (e.g. fever and chills) and were generally limited to the first infusion. Unlike many chemotherapies which must be administered for as long as six months, patients taking Rituxan can receive their entire course of therapy (four infusions) as outpatients over 22 days. "I wasn't sick or tired and I didn't have to miss work," said George Monticone, a Rituxan patient. "This treatment is especially exciting for elderly patients, who are often too frail to withstand repeated doses of chemotherapy, and for those whose disease has become resistant to conventional treatments," said Dr. Berinstein. "Rituxan has an excellent success rate of safely shrinking tumours," commented Dr. Myron Czuczman, Head, Lymphoma Service, at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York. "There is now a move towards using Rituxan earlier in the course of the disease where it may significantly impact on survival as well as quality of life." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1999 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of P\S\L content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of P\S\L. P\S\L shall not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this content or any other content on its sites, newsletters or other publications, nor for any decisions or actions taken in reliance on such content. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This news story was printed from *Doctor's Guide to the Internet* located at http://www.docguide.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to News Story Page This site is maintained by webmaster@pslgroup.com Please contact us with any comments, problems or bugs. All contents Copyright (c) 1998 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved.