Tazemetostat Shows Benefit in EZH2-Mutated Follicular Lymphoma

Connie L. Batlevi, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist specializing in lymphoma at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the efficacy of tazemetostat (Tazverik) in patients with follicular lymphoma and an EZH2 mutation.

As the investigators expected, patients with the EZH2 mutation had a higher overall response rate with tazemetostat than patients with EZH2 wild-type disease. The patients with wild-type had a longer meaningful duration of response. Although the overall responses were lower in this group, patients who did respond had a duration of response of about a year, according to Batlevi.

Batlevi says these data led researchers to believe there is epigenetic deregulation that is independent of EZH2 mutation status that is being captured by treatment with tazemetostat. This idea needs to be studied further to understand which patients receive the most benefit with tazemetostat, according to Batlevi.

The approval for tazemetostat was 1 of the first mutational-directed therapies for patients with follicular lymphoma. For now, patients with EZH2-mutated disease are more suited for treatment with tazemetostat because they have a target that predisposes them to a heightened response, Batlevi concludes.