Mundipharma's bendamustine plus rituximab doubles PFS in non-Hodgkin lymphoma and MCL patients

Results from the StiL NHL-1 study published in the Lancet today (February 20) show that a first-line treatment regimen of bendamustine (marketed under the trade name Levact by privately-held Swiss drugmaker Mundipharma) plus rituximab (B-R) doubles progression-free survival (PFS) compared with the most often used treatment CHOP plus rituximab (CHOP-R), in newly diagnosed patients with indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma (iNHL) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

Median PFS for patients treated with B-R was 69.5 months, compared with 31.2 months for patients treated with CHOP-R, the most common chemo-immunotherapy regimen used for the treatment of these diseases (p<0.0001). The statistically significant PFS benefit was maintained in the B-R group, regardless of age and across all subtypes; follicular lymphoma, MCL and Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinaemia, with the exception of marginal zone lymphoma, which was non-inferior.1

The results also represent the first time that a simplified treatment regimen has led to a superior complete response (CR) rate compared to CHOP-R in a randomized trial, with 40% of the B-R group achieving a CR compared with 30% for CHOP-R (p=0.021). The B-R group also experienced fewer side effects to those receiving CHOP-R, with serious adverse events occurring in 19% of the B-R group compared with 29% for patients receiving CHOP-R.1