Goy Predicts Strategies for the Future of MCL Treatment

Andre H. Goy, MD, chairman and director, John Theurer Cancer Center, Hackensack University Medical Center, predicts the future use of novel combinations for treatment of patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

Over the past few years, we have learned that we have game-changing novel therapies in the relapsed/refractory setting for MCL, Goy says. As single agents, some of these therapies have shown significant activity. In particular, lenalidomide(Revlimid), bortezomib (Velcade), and venetoclax (Venclexta) are showing dramatic activity in addition to Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitors, and these agents are changing the treatment landscape for patients who are chemotherapy-resistant.

In the future, this activity can be built upon by combining therapies, like ibrutinib (Imbruvica) and venetoclax, to reach a complete response rate of about 70% and cause a durable response in the relapsed/refractory setting. For the patients with MCL who can tolerate more intensive therapy, there is a possibility to bring some of the novel treatments to the frontline setting and combine them with chemotherapy.

Combining one novel agent with another is more appealing, says Goy. The concept of novel combinations is especially appealing for elderly patients who cannot tolerate chemotherapy, he adds.