Oncologic, endocrine & metabolic emerging drugs in B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

The incidence of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, of which B-cell neoplasms are the commonest, has been increasing over the last 20 years. Treatment options have also increased, with improved response rates to first-line therapy. However, treatment failure with disease recurrence remains a major problem. Recently, the focus of drug development has shifted from conventional cytotoxic drugs to molecularly targeted agents and immunotherapy, driven by advances in the understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of these disorders.

To review preclinical and clinical data on novel molecularly targeted therapies that show promise for the treatment of B-cell NHL.

PubMed was used for literature searches and additional drug development data were provided by pharma projects.

Large numbers of new drugs are at various stages of preclinical and clinical development. The challenge for the clinicians is how best to incorporate them into existing treatment regimes.