Levact: new blood cancer drug

1 October 2010

Bendamustine is an alkylating antitumour agent with unique activity.¹ It is licenced for use:

in the first-line treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (Binet stage B or C) when fludarabine combination chemotherapy is not appropriate.
as monotherapy for indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that has progressed during or within 6 months of rituximab treatment.
in combination with prednisone for multiple myeloma (Durie-Salmon stage II with progress or stage III) in patients >65 years who are not eligible for autologous stem cell transplantation, thalidomide or bortezomib.

The drug’s antineoplastic and cytocidal effects are based on the cross-linking of DNA single and double strands by alkylation, which results in impaired DNA synthesis and repair.

Clinical studies have shown that there is no complete cross-resistance of bendamustine with anthracyclines, alkylating agents or rituximab, however, the number of assessed patients was small.¹

View Levact drug record

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