Dr. Eyre Discusses Venetoclax Monotherapy in MCL

Toby Eyre, MBChB, MRCP, consultant hematologist at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, discusses venetoclax (Venclexta) monotherapy in patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

Patients with relapsed/refractory MCL have a poor prognosis, with an approximate overall survival of 2 years, says Eyre. Even with the success of BTK inhibitors, many patients relapse, creating an area of unmet need. In a study of patients with poor-risk relapsed/refractory MCL previously treated with a BTK inhibitor, venetoclax monotherapy induced an overall response rate of 60%. Of the responders, 20% had a complete response.

These data come from the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency compassionate use scheme, says Eyre. The majority of these patients received ibrutinib (Imbruvica), but some had received other BTK inhibitors while on a clinical trial. These 20 patients went on to received venetoclax monotherapy, but the efficacy data was not collected in the post-BTK inhibitor setting until this study.