May 2026
Patients with indolent lymphomas in Malawi mainly treated with chemotherapy alone experienced poor survival outcomes, despite exhibiting disease characteristics similar to those of patients in high-income countries. This is according to a study published in Blood Global Hematology.1
“This study highlights the need to expand access to affordable cancer medications in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs),” said corresponding author Matthew S. Painschab, MD, of Indiana University in Indianapolis.
Dr. Painschab noted that the development of rituximab in the early 2000s was revolutionary for patients with indolent lymphomas. Before rituximab’s development, low-grade lymphomas were treated only with chemotherapy.
“The majority of these patients would relapse within two to three years, and the therapies beyond chemotherapy were minimal to non-existent,” he said. “With the development of rituximab and additional therapies subsequent to that, the outlook for patients with low-grade lymphomas has changed dramatically. Studies in follicular lymphoma (FL), for example, have shown that patients treated with rituximab alone often remain in remission for more than 10 years. In patients who have rituximab along with chemotherapy, this duration of remission can be even longer. Along with the additional therapies that now exist for these diseases, many patients in high-income countries die with their lymphoma, not from their lymphoma.”
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