Dr. Wang on the Benefit of BTK Inhibitors in MCL

Michael Wang, MD, professor in the Department of Lymphoma and Myeloma at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the benefit of BTK inhibitors in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

MCL is one of the most difficult-to-treat lymphomas. As a rare subtype of lymphoma, MCL can be difficult to treat outside of a specialized center, explains Wang. Furthermore, current therapeutic options are not curative, so the prognosis is poor.

However, this is starting to change as the field moves from the use of chemotherapy to chemotherapy-free agents, such as ibrutinib (Imbruvica) and acalabrutinib (Tecentriq), says Wang. Both BTK inhibitors are oral agents that can induce better responses than several chemotherapies combined, he adds. Moreover, patients do not lose their hair as a result of these inhibitors, they don't need a central line, and their blood count levels don't drop. Additionally, the infection rate is much better with these agents, concludes Wang.