Dr. Goy on Promising Data With Acalabrutinib in MCL

Andre Goy, MD, MS, chief, Division of Lymphoma, chairman and director, John Theurer Cancer Center, discusses promising data with acalabrutinib (Calquence) in the treatment of patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

At the 2018 ASH Annual Meeting, Goy says there was an explosion of exciting data with small molecule inhibitors across the different hematologic malignancies. This holds true in MCL, where recent clinical trials have been attempting to shy away from the use of traditional cytotoxic chemotherapy in these patients. In the relapsed/refractory setting, BTK inhibitors are starting to rise to the forefront, and researchers presented long-term follow-up data with the second-generation inhibitor acalabrutinib at the meeting. This drug differs from the first-generation inhibitor ibrutinib (Imbruvica) in that there appears to be less off-target effects and less cardiotoxicity, if any.

At a follow-up of over 2 years, results showed a median duration of response with acalabrutinib of over 26 months with an overall response rate of over 80%. The complete response rate to the agent was approximately 60%, Goy says, which was really exciting. This efficacy and tolerability makes acalabrutinib a good candidate to combine with other small molecule drugs, he adds.