Exploring Treatment Strategies for Elderly Patients With Aggressive Lymphoma Ineligible for CAR T-Cell Therapy
At the 2023 Lymphoma, Leukemia & Myeloma Congress in New York, New York, Jennifer Amengual, MD, Columbia University, New York, New York, discusses new approvals and treatment strategies for older patients with aggressive lymphoma who are ineligible for [chimeric antigen receptor] (CAR) T-cell therapy.
Transcript:
Hi, my name is Jennifer Amengual. I'm from Columbia University in New York, and I'm here at the Lymphoma, [Leukemia &] Myeloma Congress. I'll be speaking about novel treatment options for elderly patients who are not eligible for CAR T therapy.
We're so fortunate at this time that we have so many treatment options available to us in this space. Just in the last year, we've had 2 new approvals, and our ability to try to find the right therapies for a specific patient and disease situation is growing even further.
In patients [who] can't go on to CAR T or autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT), or if they failed one of those therapies, there are growing number of treatment options [that] are exciting. We have available to us polatuzumab plus rituximab and bendamustine, which is a great option that does rely a little bit on chemotherapy, but can induce nice responses in patients who have been multiply refractory.
We have the tafasitamab-lenalidomide combination, which is very safe and even in the 5-year update has shown prolonged survival and response rates. Recently, we've had the approvals of 2 bispecific [antibodies], glofitamab and epcoritamab, both [with] impressive response rates, and especially in those who obtain a complete response rate that is quite prolonged, there's question of whether this can somehow lead to cures.
Finally, in the last few years also, we've had [loncastuximab tesirine] (lonca T), which is also very safe and effective, [with] minimal time coming back and forth to the office.
We have so many different options that we can use and cycle through when appropriate for patients who are not candidates for CAR T. [It’s a] very exciting time in relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. And, this is in addition to CAR T therapy still really making great improvements in care.
Source:
Amengual J. Debate (Novel Agents): Older Patients with Aggressive Lymphoma Should Receive CAR-T cells vs Novel Agents. Presented at Lymphoma, Leukemia & Myeloma Congress; October 18-21, 2023. New York, NY
