Eisai Co. Ltd. said Treakisym was approved as a first-line treatment in Japan for patients with low-grade B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma and mantle cell lymphoma, or MCL, a cancer of white blood cells.

The drug will be used in combination with rituximab to treat patients. It is already approved as a monotherapy for relapsed or refractory low-grade B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma and MCL.

Eisai began marketing Treakisym in late-2010 as part of a licensing agreement with SymBio Pharmaceuticals Ltd.