Bexxar

I write a lot of Zevalin (like I did a couple of days ago), but there's a second RadioImmunoTherapy (RIT) therapy available called Bexxar.


Bexxar works in roughly the same way as Zevalin, but uses a different type of radiation. The choice of using Bexxar or Zevalin depends on a few factors (too technical to get into here). I think we hear more about Zevalin because the rights to it have bounced around a lot, and the company that currently has its rights has been fairly aggressive about getting different approvals for its use. But the important thing is, they both work well.

So I need to give some love to Bexxar, the quiet cousin of Zevalin, too.


Two recent pieces on Bexxar:


The first is an article from the most recent issue of the medical journal Current Oncology called "131I–Tositumomab in Lymphoma." (131I–Tositumomab is the real name for Bexxar.)

Of course, the best part of the piece is that one of the co-authors is J. A. MacEachern from McMaster University in Canada.

The article is a review of 18 clinical trials on Bexxar, and looks at trends in the trials. Bexxar shows a complete response in 65-72% of Follicular NHL patients who had been previously treated. The authors think Bexxar is a promising treatment, especially as an option for patients who have not had success with chemo.


Which was the case with Jamie Reno, whose name has come up before in Lympho Bob (a link to a piece in Newsweek, where he interviewed Farrah Fawcett's oncologist soon after she died, in which the doctor gave passionate support for RIT.) Jamie tried the chemotherapy treatment CHOP in 1996, but had his fNHL come back three years later. Doing extensive research on his own, he decided that Bexxar was his best option. He writes about it in an article on the web site called LymphomaInfo.com called "Radio-Immunotherapy Saved my Life." It's an easy read, and makes the point pretty clearly about RIT's usefulness. He points out that results from a Bexxar trial will be available next year, and may lead to Bexxar getting the same front-line status that Zevalin now has.


Here's to hope.