Dr. Younes on Atezolizumab, Obinutuzumab, and Bendamustine in Follicular Lymphoma

Anas Younes, MD, Chief of Lymphoma Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the interim analysis of a study exploring the safety and efficacy of atezolizumab (Tecentriq) in combination with obinutuzumab (Gazya) and bendamustine in patients with previously untreated follicular lymphoma.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors are very important in the treatment of cancer, not just lymphomas, but also solid tumors, Younes says. The activity of these agents in non-Hodgkin lymphoma is not good enough to obtain single-agent approval strategies. Thus, there is a lot of interest in using these agents in combination.

This trial investigated the safety and early clinical activity of atezolizumab, obinutuzumab, and bendamustine. In a nutshell, Younes says it seems to be reasonably safe to combine these agents and the efficacy looks good.