Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is a cancer of the lymphatic system, which includes the lymph nodes and other organs that are part of the body's immune system that forms blood and protects against germs. Symptoms include swollen lymph nodes, fever, flu-like symptoms, night sweats and weight loss.
Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is the sixth most common form of cancer in the U.S. The American Cancer Society estimates that 63,190 Americans were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2007, and the National Cancer Institute has estimated that approximately 332,000 patients suffer from this disease.
B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is a cancer of B-cell lymphocytes, the body's white blood cells principally responsible for fighting disease. Approximately 85% of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients in the U.S. have B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and approximately half of these patients have the indolent form of the disease. Although indolent B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is slow-growing, it is incurable with existing therapies and inevitably fatal. The median survival time for patients diagnosed with advanced stages of indolent B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is estimated to be between seven and 10 years.
The current standard of care for the treatment of B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients is Rituxan® used either alone or in combination with another therapy. Annual sales of Rituxan in the U.S. have grown from $162 million in 1998 to approximately $2.3 billion in 2007. Favrille's clinical registration strategy involves the administration of our active immunotherapy Specifid™ (formerly FavId®) in combination with Rituxan, which we believe will enable the largest number of patients with B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma to benefit.