Positives

• Norwegian oncologists Drs. Øystein Fluge and Olav Mella first noticed that an ME/CFS patient treated with rituximab for Hodgkin’s lymphoma also recovered from her ME/CFS, sparking the entire B-cell-depletion line of research Health Rising.
  
  

Negatives

• At six-year follow-up of the combined rituximab and cyclophosphamide trials, rituximab-treated patients commonly fail to reach normal physical function scores at meaningfully higher rates than untreated peers — a difference too small to drive practice change PMC.
  
  

Hurdles & Side Effects

• Rituximab requires IV infusion every 6-12 months, carries serious infection risk (especially reactivation of hepatitis B and progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy), and is rarely prescribed off-label for ME/CFS post-RituxME failure MEpedia.