Bendamustine

Bendamustine, sold under the brand name Treanda among others, is a chemotherapy medication used in the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), multiple myeloma, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. It is given by injection into a vein. Bendamustine, sold under the brand name Treanda among others, is a chemotherapy medication used in the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), multiple myeloma, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. It is given by injection into a vein. Common side effects include low blood cell counts, fever, nausea, diarrhea, loss of appetite, cough, and rash. Other severe side effects include allergic reactions and increased risk of infection. Use in pregnancy is known to harm the baby. Bendamustine is in the alkylating agents family of medication. It works by interfering with the function of DNA and RNA. Bendamustine was approved for medical use in the United States in 2008. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, the most effective and safe medicines needed in a health system. The cost in the United Kingdom for the NHS is about 275.81 pounds per 100 mg vial. It was originally made from nitrogen mustard. Bendamustine has been used both as sole therapy and in combination with other agents including etoposide, fludarabine, mitoxantrone, methotrexate, prednisone, rituximab, vincristine and 90Y-ibritumomab tiuxetan. One combination for stage III/IV relapsed or refractory indolent lymphomas and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), with or without prior rituximab-containing chemoimmunotherapy treatment, is bendamustine with mitoxantrone and rituximab. In Germany in 2012 it has become the first line treatment of choice for indolent lymphoma. After trial results released in June 2012 showed that it more than doubled disease progression-free survival when given along with rituximab. The combination also left patients with fewer side effects than the older R-CHOP treatment. Common adverse reactions are typical for the class of nitrogen mustards, and include nausea, fatigue, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, constipation, loss of appetite, cough, headache, unintentional weight loss, difficulty breathing, rashes, and stomatitis, as well as immunosuppression, anemia, and low platelet counts.Notably, this drug has a low incidence of hair loss (alopecia) unlike most other chemotherapy drugs.