Dr. Brody on the Expanding Role of Venetoclax in MCL

Joshua Brody, MD, director of the Lymphoma program at Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital, discusses the expanding role of venetoclax (Venclexta) in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

Venetoclax, a BCL-2 inhibitor, as a single agent or in combination with obinutuzumab (Gazyva) currently has FDA approvals in chronic lymphocytic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia, says Brody. In MCL, venetoclax appears to be a promising emerging agent for patients with BTK inhibitor–refractory and –naïve disease.

Data with venetoclax have shown high overall and complete response rates with durable remissions in patients with MCL, Brody says. Additionally, the toxicity profile of venetoclax in MCL appears similar to what has been observed in CLL, explains Brody. Regarding safety, venetoclax poses an early risk of tumor lysis syndrome; however, the risk appears to be manageable with standard dose titration.

Overall, it is difficult to predict which B-cell malignancies venetoclax will have activity in, says Brody. However, as BCL-2 is widely expressed in MCL, there is rationale to evaluate the agent in this space, concludes Brody.