Dr. Villa on the Efficacy of Induction Therapy With BR in MCL

Diego Villa, MD, MPH, clinical associate professor, Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, discusses the efficacy of induction therapy with bendamustine plus rituximab (Rituxan) in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

According to data from a retrospective analysis of patients with newly diagnosed MCL, treatment with BR was found to be an effective regimen compared with standard R-CHOP in transplant-eligible and -ineligible patients.

Notably, 12% of patients developed progressive disease on BR, or within 3 months of completing BR. These patients had a number of high-risk features, including aggressive biology characterized by blastoid or pleomorphic histology and elevated Ki-67, explains Villa. As such, patients with highly proliferative MCL may not be optimal candidates for BR induction and thus, should receive alternative therapy, concludes Villa.