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Jeremy S. Abramson, MD, MMSc
Jeremy S. Abramson, MD, MMSc
Posted: Monday, March 31, 2025
Peter Martin, MD, of Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, and colleagues conducted a population-based cohort study to determine whether access to multiple new agents with nonoverlapping mechanisms of action may result in significant improvements in overall survival in older patients with mantle cell lymphoma. Their findings, which were published in the journal Clinical Lymphoma, Myeloma & Leukemia, support the continued development of new therapies.
“We observed improvements in both overall survival 1 and time to next therapy over time, which may correlate with increased rituximab plus bendamustine and Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor use as first-line agents,” the investigators commented. “Unexpectedly, overall survival 2 improvements were more modest.”
Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare linked database, the investigators identified 5,441 patients older than age 65 who were diagnosed between 2002 and 2019 and had claims for first- (n = 4,382; 79.5%) and second- (n = 1,538; 34.1%) line regimens. The rate of first-line use of rituximab plus bendamustine increased from less than 2% in patients diagnosed between 2002 and 2005 to 54% in those diagnosed between 2014 and 2019. BTK inhibitor–containing regimens accounted for 8% and 54% of first- and second-line regimens, respectively, among those diagnosed between 2014 and 2019.
The investigators reported significant improvements in overall survival 1 (defined as the time from initial therapy to death) across year of diagnosis categories (P < .0001). Improvements in overall survival 2 (defined as the time from second-line therapy to death) and the time to next therapy were also observed.
“Additional randomized controlled studies should be considered to better ascertain the best order of therapies in order to induce durable remission and improve survival,” the investigators concluded.
Disclosure: The study authors reported no conflicts of interest.
Clinical Lymphoma, Myeloma & Leukemia
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