Last month, the virtual meeting for SOHO (The Society of Hematologic Oncology) held its annual meeting online. Dr. Nathan Fowler from MD Anderson in Texas posted a video with a summary of what was said about Follicular Lymphoma.
Dr. Fowler is a certified Lymphoma Rock Star; he was the researcher who presented the data for R-Squared. He was one of the main speakers at SOHO 2020 for lymphoma.
(By the way, cool name for a group of cancer doctors -- SOHO.)
The SOHO meeting isn't like ASCO or ASH, where people are presenting brand new research. It's more about education -- collecting all of that recent research and showing doctors why it's useful.
I mention this because it's kind of the spirit of Dr. Fowler's video. He very nicely sums up some of the more recent research on Follicular Lymphoma (and he's doing it for the website Lymphoma Hub, a site for oncologists).
So what does Dr. Fowler think are the major developments in FL that oncologists should know about?
There are some new options for untreated FL (the first treatment a patient receives):
Obinutuzumab has been shown to be a good substitute for Rituxan in combination with chemo (a little better Progression Free Survival, balanced with slightly worse side effects).
The RELEVANCE trial, which compared R-Squared with Rituxan + Chemo, showed that a non-chemotherapy option could work as well as chemo (though with a different set of side effects).
As Dr. Fowler says, we're seeing new options for first treatments, but it's important to consider side effects, since they can be different for different treatments, and the choice of treatment might not depend so much on effectiveness (since they are about the same), but Quality of Life (how side effects will play out).
For Relapsed FL, there are some recent options, too, including a third Kinase inhibitor Umbralisib, curently under review. All three have PFS of about a year (not great, but another option for people who need the option).
R-Squared is also approved for relapsed FL.
And then there is Tazemetostat,the EZH2 inhibitor approved this summer.
And of course, there is CAR-T.
The various newer treatments, he says, have different mechanisms of action -- they work on the cancer cells in different ways. That's important -- we still don't now why exactly, but some patients' Follicular Lymphomas do very well with certain types of treatments, and others do better with a different type of treatment. Options are good.
Once again, this video isn't presenting anything new, but I always like seeing a Lymphoma expert getting excited about what's happening in his world.
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