Faculty Perspectives Dec Vol4 No1 TON

This is the first article in a 4-part series on bendamustine. This article describes the history and characterization of bendamustine. Subsequent articles will discuss the efficacy and safety of bendamustine in registration studies and describe ongoing clinical investigations of bendamustine.

Bendamustine has an interesting history that spans more than 50 years. Bendamustine was first synthesized in the early 1960s in the former East Germany. It was first used to treat multiple myeloma and was subsequently extended to patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), and Hodgkin lymphoma.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common form of leukemia in adults and is a slowly progressing cancer of the blood and bone marrow. According to cancer statistics, an estimated 16,060 new CLL diagnoses will be made in the United States in 2012.

Since the approval of bendamustine, healthcare practitioners have additional treatment options available to patients with specific hematologic malignancies. In the United States, bendamustine was approved for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or indolent B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) who had progressed within 6 months of receiving rituximab-containing regimens.