Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common form of leukemia in adults. According to the National Cancer Society an estimated 60,000 people are living throughout the United States with CLL.

An article published in The Lancet stated that the chemotherapy combination of Fludara plus Cytoxan improves progression free survival compared to therapy consisting of Fludara alone. The drugs used to treat CLL consist of Fludara, Cytoxan and chlorambucil. Recent studies have shown that Fludara in combination with Cytoxan to be the most effective treatment for CLL.

Researchers wanted to test to see if higher anticancer responses were seen with the combination of Fludara plus Cytoxan, treatment with Fludara alone or treatment with chlorambucil.

The study concluded that:

• Overall anticancer responses were achieved in 94 percent of patients treated with Fludara plus Cytoxan.
• Patients treated with Fludara had an 80 percent anticancer response.
• Patients treated with chlorambucil had a 72 percent anticancer response.
• Complete disappearances of detectable cancer occurred in 38 percent of patients treated with the combination of Fludara and Cytoxen, compared with only 15 percent treated with Fludara alone.

The researchers concluded that Fludara plus Cytoxan "should now become the standard treatment for CLL".