Dr. Shah Compares BTK Inhibitors for Mantle Cell Lymphoma

Bijal D. Shah, MD, medical oncologist, Moffitt Cancer Center, assistant professor of oncology, University of South Florida, compares the 2 available BTK inhibitors for patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

Ibrutinib (Imbruvica) and acalabrutinib (Calquence) are currently the two FDA-approved agents in this class. The most important thing to take into consideration, Shah says, is that these drugs are being tested in distinct clinical trials. By the time acalabrutinib was being tested, researchers already knew the impact of ibrutinib. Patients were starting to receive ibrutinib much early in treatment, and these patients were less heavily pretreated and less likely to harbor p53 mutations than before. When progression-free survival and overall survival data are compared with these trials, researchers need to analyze it critically.

Shah adds that it doesn’t really make sense for a drug that’s more selective for BTK to be more effective. On the contrary, broader enzymatic inhibition should come with a better outcome.