Dr. Goy Discusses Combinations in Mantle Cell Lymphoma

Andre Goy, MD, chairman and director, chief of Lymphoma, and director of Clinical and Translational Cancer Research at John Theurer Cancer Center, discusses combinations in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

In addition to the progress seen with ibrutinib (Imbruvica) and acalabrutinib (Calquence), combinations have also created excitement in the treatment landscape of MCL. In addition to the acalabrutinib data presented at the 2017 ASH Annual Meeting, there were data presented on the combination of lenalidomide (Revlimid) plus rituximab (Rituxan), which showed that patients treated with this combination had a high rate of complete response (CR).

Goy says that combinations with biological agents may achieve a deeper response than monotherapy, and in a pilot study of rituximab plus lenalidomide and ibrutinib, the response rate was over 85% and the CR rate was 60%. This is promising for patients with relapsed or refractory MCL, Goy adds.

Additionally, there was a multicenter trial looking at the long-term follow-up of lenalidomide and rituximab in patients with MCL presented at ASH 2017. Goy says that although the study was small, the fact that some patients were still in remission after 5 years was interesting.