The combination of bendamustine and rituximab (B-R) should become the preferred first-line therapy for untreated patients with indolent lymphoma and mantle cell lymphoma. The long-term results from a phase III study comparing B-R with standard CHOP-R therapy showed superior efficacy (median progression-free survival of 69.5 versus 31.2 months) and decreased toxicity (no hair loss, and lower neuropathy, infections and hematotoxicity) for the B-R regimen.