Judy Siegel-Itzkovich, THE JERUSALEM POST

The monoclonal antibody drug Rutiximab (commercially known as Mabtera) has been shown to reduce mortality by an amazing 40 percent in follicular lymphoma patients; 400 new cases are diagnosed each year.

This was proven in research at the Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus that was published recently in the prestigious Journal of the [US] National Cancer Institute.

The meta-analysis of a number of previous controlled studies included Mabtera treatment on 985 patients who were followed up for three years. Dr. Liat Vital of the Davidoff Cancer Center on the Petah Tikva campus said most patients with this kind of blood cancer have relapses.

If this immunological treatment is given following chemotherapy, she added, survival rates soar. Prof. Ofer Sperling, head of the hematology department there, said such patients should receive Mabtera for two years after a relapse of the lymphoma and that it should become standard treatment for all cases. The Rabin Medical Center research, he continued, will help lengthen the survival of many patients around the world.