Rituximab maintenance therapy and CLL treatment considerations going forward

Share :
Published: 1 Jan 2014
Views: 4001
Rating:
Save
Prof Ulrich Jäger - Medical University of Vienna, Austria

Prof Ulrich Jäger from Medical University of Vienna, Austria discusses the rituximab maintenance trial in patients with aggressive lymphoma (diffused large b-cell lymphoma mainly) who have achieved complete remission or unconfirmed complete remission. He notes how the trial has shown that the male low-risk population could profit from higher doses of rituximab or longer treatment periods.

Prof Jäger celebrates the different drugs available to patients with CLL. However, he concludes that this 'luxury problem' requires molecular data and a bio-informatic tool for the end doctor to chose the right trial and/or treatment for the patient as the patient populations become further targeted and so smaller, especially when considering the potential cost for long-term treatment programmes.

To conclude Prof Jäger comments that he would like to see further investigations in drug combinations and more coordination between trials, to allow for better comparisons.

Read our ASH 2013 conference report for free