Laurie H. Sehn, MD, MPH: The SWOG 1608 trial, which is currently underway, is a very important trial. It’s attempting to assess different treatment options for patients with relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma, who have relapsed very soon after their initial therapy. We know that follicular lymphoma is very heterogenous, and what we’re learning is that there are patients who can have very good, durable control from frontline therapy. But about 20% of patients have early relapse or are refractory to frontline therapy, and that’s about 20% of patients with follicular lymphoma. Those patients actually have a relatively dismal outcome. Investigating novel therapeutic options in that high-risk-patient cohort in a relapsed/refractory setting will be really important because we really don’t know at this point what ideal management for those patients is.

This trial tested the very novel combination of polatuzumab, obinutuzumab, and lenalidomide in patients with relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma. Polatuzumab is an exciting agent because it’s a novel antibody-drug conjugate target, targeting CD79B, and this drug has been recently approved in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphomas. But we know from earlier trials that it also has value in patients with follicular lymphoma and can be a very effective agent.

Looking forward to trying to improve therapies for patients with relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma, the combination of obinutuzumab and lenalidomide has also shown utility. It’s a very attractive concept of adding in this additional targeted agent to that unique well-tolerated backbone.

They reported on a series of patients treated with this triple combination, and it had a very high level of activity with high overall response rate seen and a high CR [complete response] rate as well in this patient population. Importantly, the combination was well tolerated. There were no unexpected toxicities that haven’t been seen with each individual agent previously.

Transcript Edited for Clarity