Dr. Smith on the Results of the ECOG-ACRIN E1411 Trial in MCL

Mitchell R. Smith, MD, PhD, associate cancer center director for clinical investigations, chief, Division of Oncology and Blood Disorders, GW Cancer Center, clinical professor of medicine, GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences, discusses the results of the phase 2 ECOG-ACRIN E1411 trial (NCT01415752) in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

Findings from the study, which were presented during the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting, failed to demonstrate an improvement in overall response rate, complete response rate, or median progression-free survival with the addition of bortezomib (Velcade) to standard, frontline bendamustine plus rituximab (Rituxan; BR) vs BR alone in older patients with MCL.

The median PFS was 5.9 years with BR plus bortezomib vs 5.4 years with BR alone, which indicated that BR alone performed better than expected in this study, Smith says. Additionally, this lessened the potential that the addition of bortezomib would yield positive results, Smith explains. Overall, these findings support BR plus rituximab maintenance therapy as a standard induction therapy for patients with MCL, concludes Smith.