Dr. Hamlin on Next Steps With Ibrutinib/Buparlisib in MCL, FL, and DLBCL

Paul A. Hamlin, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the next steps following a phase I dose-escalation study of buparlisib plus ibrutinib (Imbruvica) in patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), follicular lymphoma (FL), and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).

The initial experience as a phase I study has been encouraging, Hamlin explains, especially in the MCL cohort. These are patients with fairly aggressive disease and with blastic features whom experienced prominent responses to the therapy and were durable. It is likely that there will be more options in the future thats attack both processes, he adds.

Researchers already know that ibrutinib is effective as a single agent in MCL; therefore, attacking more than 1 pathway is what likely leads to the more durable responses, he concludes.