New research shows that the drug treatment also has long-term effectiveness.
In addition, the work indicates that the drug has fewer long-term complications for patients than some physicians expected. The drug was first tested in patients in the early 1980s. It was found to have significant anti-cancer activity in patients with hairy cell leukemia. The new study looked at a group of these patients who were given dCF in the '80s for treatment of advanced hairy cell leukemia and went into remission. This study shows that dCF can alter the course of hairy cell leukemia.