ASCO: Revlimid

OK, this is what I think will end up being the Big News from ASCO this year for Follicular NHL, and it actually involves a fairly small number of fNHL patients.

I'm hoping you'll be able to see this link, though you may need a Facebook account to be able to see it. It's from a Facebook site called Lymphoma Resources, and the post is called "ASCO11: Lenalidomide-Containing Front Line Regimens for DLBCL and Indolent Lymphoma Show Promising Results." Lymphoma Resources is written by Dr. Anas Younes, a lymphoma expert at M.D. Anderson.

In case you can't see Younes' summary from ASCO, I'll summarize his summary:


Lenalidomide, also known as Revlimid, is a newer treatment. It seems to work in several ways, most importantly by messing with the microenvironment of the cancer cells -- the areas surrounding the cells, and which the cell needs to grow -- as well as on the cells themselves. It's reasonably effective when used on its own; it has about a 27% response rate for fNHL. However, because it effects the immune system, it seems to be even more effective when used with monoclonal antibodies like Rituxan.

One presentation at ASCO reported that Lenalidomide combined with Rituxan was very effective as a first-line treatment, with 87% of the 41 fNHL patients achieving a response, and most of them achieving a complete response. The overall response rate is similar to patients receiving R-CHOP and R-Bendamustine, though the the complete responses are higher than for those two treatments.

In a second study, researchers combined Lenalidomide with R-CHOP in 30 patients, some with fNHL and some with Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma, an aggressive type. This combination yielded a 100% response rate, with 83% achieving a complete response.

As I said, I think Revlimid is going to be the Big News from this year. I'm guessing there will be further trials that combine it with other agents, and we may begin to see more and better results in the next few years. Combinations like these are likely to be where we get the best results; it seems to me that the more we understand just how comples cancer is, the more likely it is that we'll need to attack it in multiple ways in order to beat it.