Dr. Goy on Lenalidomide as Management for Patients With MCL

Andre Goy, MD, MS, chairman and director, chief of Lymphoma, and director of Clinical and Translational Cancer Research at John Theurer Cancer Center, discusses the efficacy of lenalidomide (Revlimid) for the treatment of patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

Lenalidomide is approved by the FDA for the treatment of patients with MCL, Goy explains. Moreover, its clinical activity in heavily pretreated patients, as reported from pivotal data, demonstrated a 33% response rate, an 8% complete response (CR) rate, and a median duration of response between 16 and 17 months. Several of these patients, he adds, were refractory to chemotherapy. Therefore, the R-squared data—known as rituximab (Rituxan) plus lenalidomide—in the relapsed/refractory setting is also impressive but is associated with more myeloid toxicity.

However, in the frontline setting of R-squared as treatment for MCL, it also took up to 1 year for patients to achieve a CR in the clinical trial; however, he says, it was impressive even in the high-risk population. This could potentially lead to a new frontline standard of care in MCL, though more follow-up is needed.