Matasar Discusses Phase 3 Data on Venetoclax and Ibrutinib for MCL

Matthew Matasar, MD, chief of the division of blood disorders at the Rutgers Cancer Institute and professor at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, discusses the phase 3 SYMPATICO study (NCT03112174) of ibrutinib (Imbruvica) given in combination with venetoclax (Venclexta) vs ibrutinib and placebo for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

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0:09 | The standard-of-care for patients with relapsed mantle cell lymphoma continues to evolve. Ibrutinib or BTK monotherapy has been a long-standing standard-of-care in these patients. The question is whether we can do better than monotherapy at providing deeper and more durable responses. This has been our goal, to develop combination therapy in this context. To that end, we see data from SYMPATICO, which was a randomized trial of ibrutinib continuously, with or without the addition of 2 years of venetoclax at initiation, with an attempt to improve these very clinical end points.

0:42 | We see the results are favorable. In terms of activity, we see definite improvements in response and progression-free survival for the patients treated with the doublet. What we do not yet know is whether this is going to translate to improvements in survival. We do not yet have a full and clear picture about the incremental impact of combination therapy.

1:02 | I would say that ibrutinib plus venetoclax, or IV, which is confusing for our nurses, is an attractive combination because it is a dual oral program. That's important both for the patient journey, as well as for logistics and operational considerations when we take care of our patients in a variety of health care contexts.