Dr. Allan on the Use of Vecabrutinib Therapy in B-Cell Malignancies

John N. Allan, MD, assistant attending physician at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and assistant professor of medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University, discusses the use of vecabrutinib (SNS-062) therapy in patients with B-cell malignancies.

Vecabrutinib is 1 of 3 investigational BTK inhibitors that is being evaluated in patients with B-cell malignancies. Vecabrutinib is unique from the currently approved BTK inhibitors in that it is reversible and noncovalent, explains Allan. When patients progress on irreversible, covalent BTK inhibitors, they typically acquire a resistance mutation; this is not the case with the reversible BTK inhibitors, says Allan.

The drug is currently under evaluation in a phase Ib/II trial. To be eligible for enrollment, patients had to have received ≥2 prior lines of therapy and progressed on a covalent BTK inhibitor, adds Allan. Several histologic subtypes have accrued to the trial, including those with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, Waldenström Macroglobulinemia, marginal zone lymphoma, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, and follicular lymphoma. To date, 29 patients have enrolled on the trial, results regarding these patients were presented at the 2019 ASH Annual Meeting, concludes Allan.