Dr. Goy on Treatment Considerations in MCL

Andre Goy, MD, MS, chief, Division of Lymphoma, chairman and director, John Theurer Cancer Center, discusses treatment considerations in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

In frail patients who are not eligible for chemotherapy, the field is moving toward the use of doublet and triplet regimens, Goy says. For example, ongoing trials are looking at the combination of ibrutinib (Imbruvica) and venetoclax (Venclexta) for frail patients in the relapsed setting,. Data so far have been so impressive that researchers are looking to add this combination to a CD20 monoclonal antibody.

Moreover, there is now a larger focus on achieving minimal residual disease negativity as that has been has shown to translate to better outcomes. This might also guide maintenance therapy in the future, Goy notes.

He concludes that this is a very exciting time in MCL. There's a shift towards personalized therapy in which physicians are identifying the subset of high-risk patients who should receive a frontline biologic and then chemotherapy, the patients who are frail and can’t get chemotherapy, and the rest who can receive different treatment based on their molecular profile and other factors.