# The drugs that cure lymphoma, and the places that do not have them

Source: https://onco.cc/ideas/lymphoma-ev-the-drugs-that-cure-and-the-places-without-them/  
OnCo record `lymphoma-ev-the-drugs-that-cure-and-the-places-without-them` (Idea). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Lymphoma is among the most curable common cancers where the drugs exist. Rituximab is thirty years old and still out of reach for many of the people who need it.

## Summary

The counter-argument is that drug supply without pathology, imaging, supportive care and a haematologist does not cure anyone, and that is correct: Burkitt lymphoma treatment requires management of tumour lysis syndrome, and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma requires growth factor support and infection management. That makes the programme a health-system intervention rather than a drug donation, which is the form these things have to take to work.

## Fields

- Kind: Idea
- Last checked: 2026-10-01
- Also known as: Global access to rituximab and asparaginase; Lymphoma treatment access
- Tags: lymphoma-evidence
- Hypothesis: Securing reliable supply of a short list of off-patent and biosimilar lymphoma drugs, led by rituximab and asparaginase, would save more lives from lymphoma over the next decade than any new agent now in development.
- Rationale: Rituximab was approved in 1997 and biosimilars have been available for years, yet supply remains intermittent in much of Africa, south Asia and Latin America. Asparaginase is the drug that makes extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma treatable, and it is subject to recurrent global shortages. Burkitt lymphoma, which is curable with chemotherapy alone in a high proportion of children, is concentrated in the equatorial African belt where Burkitt first described it. The arithmetic favours supply over discovery.
- Proposed test: A costed procurement and supply programme for a defined lymphoma drug list in a set of countries, with pre-specified measurement of one-year overall survival in Burkitt lymphoma, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma before and after, against comparator regions without the programme.
- Maturity: speculative
- Actor: policy

## Connected records

- roadmaps: [Lymphoma roadmap: from a jaw tumour in Uganda and the first human cancer virus to gene-expression subtypes, PET-adapted chemotherapy, CAR-T cells, bispecific antibodies and the genetics-directed trials now recruiting](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/lymphoma-roadmap/)
- cancers: [Burkitt lymphoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/burkitt-lymphoma/), [Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/dlbcl/), [Hodgkin lymphoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/hodgkin-lymphoma/), [Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (all types)](https://onco.cc/cancers/non-hodgkin-lymphoma/), [Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (including cutaneous T-cell lymphoma)](https://onco.cc/cancers/peripheral-t-cell-lymphoma/)
- fronts: [Chemotherapy](https://onco.cc/fronts/chemotherapy/), [Immunotherapy](https://onco.cc/fronts/immunotherapy/), [Supportive Care & Survivorship](https://onco.cc/fronts/supportive-care/)
- drugs: [Asparaginase (pegaspargase, calaspargase pegol, Erwinia asparaginase)](https://onco.cc/drugs/asparaginase/), [Cyclophosphamide](https://onco.cc/drugs/cyclophosphamide/), [Doxorubicin](https://onco.cc/drugs/doxorubicin/), [Prednisone](https://onco.cc/drugs/prednisone/), [Rituximab](https://onco.cc/drugs/rituximab/), [Vincristine](https://onco.cc/drugs/vincristine/)
- bottlenecks: [Fragmented care and guideline gaps](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-care-fragmentation/), [Most of the world has almost no cancer care](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-global-access/), [Not enough oncologists, nurses, pathologists, physicists](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-workforce/), [Prices and value](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-drug-pricing/)
- key papers: [A sarcoma involving the jaws in African children](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-burkitt-sarcoma-involving-jaws-african-children-br-j-surg-1958/), [Phase II study of SMILE chemotherapy for newly diagnosed stage IV, relapsed, or refractory extranodal natural killer (NK)/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type: the NK-Cell Tumor Study Group study](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-smile-chemotherapy-nk-t-cell-lymphoma-jco-2011/), [Practical recommendations for the management of children with endemic Burkitt lymphoma (BL) in a resource limited setting](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-hesseling-pediatr-blood-cancer/)

---
JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/lymphoma-ev-the-drugs-that-cure-and-the-places-without-them.json