Conditions: B-cell Lymphoma Indolent B-cell Lymphoma
Keywords: rituximab
Allocation: NA | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 40
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The purpose of this clinical trial is to see if increased doses of rituximab are safe and effective for the initial treatment of indolent B-cell lymphomas. Rituximab (Rituxan) is a type of drug called an "antibody" that specifically targets B-cell lymphoma cells, and is approved by the FDA for the treatment of indolent B-cell non-hodgkin lymphomas and certain other types of non-hodgkin lymphomas. Standard doses currently used may not be achieving maximal efficacy. Higher doses have been shown to be safe in other clinical trials, and may offer superior efficacy to the current standard dose. This trial also employs intermittent maintenance doses of rituximab at the standard dose, which has been shown to prolong remissions and survival in patients with relapsed indolent B-cell lymphomas. This trial is designed to show that higher dose rituximab plus maintenance rituximab can achieve similarly good results to chemotherapy approaches, but without chemotherapy-related toxicity.

Detailed description:
* All participants will receive increased-dose rituximab through a vein in the arm once a week for 4 weeks (on Days 1, 8, 15, and 22 of the initial 28-day study cycle). This first cycle of study treatment is called the Induction Phase. If the participant responds well to the Induction Phase, they then may continue to the Maintenance Therapy Phase, where they will receive a lower dose of rituximab once every three months for up to 2 years.
* During the Induction Phase, the following procedures will take place before the participant receives each dose of rituximab: medical review, physical exam, performance status, and ECG. Blood tests will be drawn about 30-60 minutes after the first dose of rituximab on Day 1. Samples will be drawn immediately before each dose and again 30-60 minutes after each dose on Days 1, 8, 15 and 22.
* During the Maintenance Therapy Phase, the following procedures will take place before the participant receives each dose of rituximab: medical review, physical exam, performance status, ECG, blood tests and response assessments by CT scan.

Arms:
arm 1: single-arm, open-label, interventional

Interventions: intervention 1: rituximab
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Increased dose (750 mg/m2) intravenously for 4 weekly doses followed by maintenance dosing once every three months for up to 2 years. Maintenance dose is standard (375 mg/m2).

Protocol document: