The Approval of Revlimid for Patients with Relapsed or Refractory MCL

Andre Goy, MD, chairman, director and chief of Lymphoma at John Theurer Cancer Center, discusses the expanded approval of lenalidomide (Revlimid)for patients with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

Goy says this is the first time that lenalidomide is approved in a lymphoma and is only the second drug approved for relapsed or refractory MCL. Lenalidomide was recently approved for multiple myeloma.

There was evidence that the drug showed activity in lymphoma recently, Goy says, but it took time to generate data to prove that to be true.

A phase II trial focused on 134 patients who had failed standard of care for relapsed or refractory MCL, Goy says. In the study, 29% of patients responded to treatment while about 8% demonstrated complete response. The duration of response for these patients was close to 16 months, Goy says, demonstrating an improvement over chemotherapy.

Clinical Pearls

• Revlimid received expanded approval as treatment for relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma
• Twenty nine percent of patients in a phase II trial responded to Revlimid and close to 8% showed complete response