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Why has Bendeka replaced Treanda?

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on June 3, 2024.

Official Answer by Drugs.com

In January 2016 Teva announced that it was replacing Treanda (bendamustine HCl) with Bendeka (bendamustine HCl). The reasons for this were:

Treanda is still available through Cephalon Inc., a subsidiary company of Teva.

Both Bendeka and Treanda contain bendamustine HCl which may be used to treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or indolent (slow-growing) B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma that has progressed despite treatment.

How does bendamustine work?

Bendamustine is a nitrogen mustard derivative that is classified as an alkylating agent.

A cell cycle goes through three phases: resting, active growing, and mitosis (division). Alkylating agents work best in the resting phase of the cell cycle, although they may also work in the active phase. Bendamustine is active against both resting and dividing cells.

Although the exact way bendamustine works is not known, the structure of it means that it readily forms bonds with other electron-rich structures, which result in interstrand DNA crosslinks and very strong (covalent) bonds. This bonding can lead to cell death in several different ways.

Because cancer cells divide more rapidly than normal cells, they are more affected by this bonding and the death rate of cancerous cells is greater than the death rate of normal cells. This slows the growth of cancer cells in the body.

What are the side effects of bendamustine?

Although bendamustine is more effective at killing cancerous cells compared to normal cells, normal cells are still affected, which results in side effects.

Normal cells most affected by chemotherapy with bendamustine are blood cells, and cells in the mouth, stomach, and bowel. The most common side effects of bendamustine include:

Other side effects that may occur include:

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