Dr. Davids on Remaining Questions With Umbralisib/Ibrutinib in CLL and MCL

Matthew S. Davids, MD, MMSc, director of clinical research in the Lymphoma Program and a medical oncologist with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, as well as an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, discusses ​remaining questions with umbralisib (TGR-1202) plus ibrutinib (Imbruvica) in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

The key takeaway from the longer-term follow-up on a phase 1/1b study (NCT02268851) examining the safety and efficacy of umbralisib in combination with ibrutinib in patients with CLL and MCL is that the initial results are holding up for the patients with CLL, with durable responses observed, says Davids. Moreover, higher rates of complete remission (CR) were reported with ibrutinib monotherapy, which was not expected.

There is currently some debate in the field right now on whether CRs are indicative of better outcomes for patients who are receiving a continuous therapy. These data are supportive of the possibility that achieving these deep reemissions can help sustain remissions for longer, as can be seen with the very impressive progression-free survival and overall survival data, according to Davids. However, longer-term follow-up data and comparative studies will be needed to answer that question more definitively, concludes Davids.