Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common form of leukemia in adults. According to the National Cancer Society an estimated 60,000 people are living throughout the United States with CLL.

An article published in The Lancet stated that the chemotherapy combination of Fludara plus Cytoxan improves progression free survival compared to therapy consisting of Fludara alone. The drugs used to treat CLL consist of Fludara, Cytoxan and chlorambucil. Recent studies have shown that Fludara in combination with Cytoxan to be the most effective treatment for CLL.

Researchers wanted to test to see if higher anticancer responses were seen with the combination of Fludara plus Cytoxan, treatment with Fludara alone or treatment with chlorambucil.

Mantle cell lymphoma is a type of Non-Hodgkins lymphoma. It is a cancer that forms in the cells of the lymph system. Mantle cell lymphoma is considered to be a low-grade and slow growing lymphoma.

The standard of care treatment is usually the chemotherapy combination called MCP, mitoxantrone, chlorambucil, and prednisolone.

The Journal of Clinical Oncology says that the addition of Rituxan (rituximab) to the chemo combination of MCP as initial therapy can improve long term survival rates.

Since Rituxan has proved to have anti-cancer responses in other forms of NHL, researchers continue to evaluate how it can work in the treatment of various types of Non-Hodgkins lymphoma.