New cancer treatment

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Cancer sufferers will have a better quality of life, thanks to the introduction of a new form of treatment, a Dundee specialist said today.
Dr David Meiklejohn, a consultant haematologist at Ninewells Hospital, said patients suffering from a low-grade lymphoma would be able to benefit from the use of MabThera, also known as rituximab, which is now being offered to Scottish patients in conjunction with chemotherapy.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium, the organisation that advises Scottish health boards on which drugs to prescribe, has just recommended use of the drug.

Research has shown the drug can give patients who have just been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma up to two and half years free from the disease.

Before its introduction, patients were treated using chemotherapy alone. Although this does drive the disease into remission, the cancer can return and build up a resistance to the treatment.

Dr Meiklejohn said today that although MabThera does not provide a full cure for sufferers, it does dramatically improve their quality of life.

“It was developed about five or six years ago and is safer than chemotherapy as it doesn’t attack any other cells than the cancerous one — it doesn’t have the toxicity.

“The antibody has been developed for follicular cancer, which is a low-grade lymphoma. 

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