Gemcitabine and other new cytotoxic drugs: will any find their way into primary therapy?

Primary treatment for classic Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) remains highly effective with chemotherapy alone or combined-modality therapy. The limitations of therapy have been related to toxicity and efficacy in subsets of patients. The introduction of a number of new and novel cytotoxic agents has provided opportunities for investigating their use in the treatment of HL. This article briefly reviews current primary treatment strategies for HL and examines the existing data for both new cytotoxic agents and other selected novel agents in the treatment of HL.