There is now a lot of research focussing on treatment options for patients with non-Hodgkin's lympoma (NHL) who have relapsed following current standard therapies.
Many individuals have exhausted all standard options including monoclonal antibody therapy with Rituximab. But all is not lost for them. A new set of treatments are now showing promise in relpased NHL.
Lenalidomide (marketed as Revlimid in the US) is one of them. In the recent ASCO meeting, researchers presented results of an international study that showed that about 20-30% of patients with relapsed or refractory NHL respond to Revlimid. This response is better for patients with less extensive tumors and in those who have had a longer period of disease remission with Rituximab. The other great thing about Revlimid is that it is a pill and not something that has to be injected in your body.
Source: ASCO 2008 Proceedings: International study of lenalidomide in relapsed/refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
