Combining duvelisib and romidepsin may provide a path to stem cell transplant for patients with relapsed or refractory peripheral and cutaneous T-cell lymphomas.
Researchers from Somerville, Mass.-based Mass General Brigham found the drug combination to be effective, tolerable and safe, according to a June 25 news release from Mass General Brigham.
One of the study’s authors, Salvia Jain, MD, a hematologist and oncologist at Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, also in Boston, shared more about the findings with Becker’s. Dr. Jain is also a founding member of the PETAL Consortium, a global collaborative research group dedicated to uncovering new strategies for the diagnosis and treatment of T-cell lymphoma.
Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: How might the study’s findings affect treatment pathways and transplant eligibility protocols within hospital-based oncology programs?
Dr. Salvia Jain: The real-world data on the combination of duvelisib with romidepsin provides a safe and effective option for transplant-eligible patients with relapsed and refractory peripheral T-cell lymphoma. Data from the phase 1 and 2 trial coupled with our study offers a comprehensive overview of transplantation feasibility with this [drug combination]. Although the follow-up post-transplantation was short in our study, we did not see any increased risk of acute graft-versus-host disease or fatal infections post-allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Thus, for lymphoma specialists and bone marrow transplantation physicians seeking to bridge transplant eligible patients to allo-HSCT, this strategy could be considered. Especially relevant if clinical trial enrollment is not feasible due to any reason.
Q: From your perspective, how can real-world data studies like this influence institutional policy, payer decisions, and formulary access for novel treatment combinations?
SJ: High-quality real-world data is very powerful as it is more representative of routine clinical practices, making it more universally relevant with broad implications. When real-world data shows similar safety and efficacy of novel drugs, either as monotherapy or combinations aligned with the clinical trial data, it provides greater rigor and robustness generating confidence in the composite data. This is likely to favorably influence institutional policies, payer decisions and expand access to the novel combination.
Q: As hospitals seek to expand precision oncology, how might future research inform more personalized, resource-efficient care models?
SJ: Non-invasive monitoring with circulating DNA-based approaches are being used to guide care in patients with aggressive B-cell lymphomas. Our group — in collaboration with Drs. David Kurtz and Michael Khodadoust at Stanford — has developed a more specific technique called LILY-seq which enables tracking of highly specific tumor-relevant ctDNA. We believe that combination of clinical, radiologic and molecular residual disease results will ultimately facilitate start/stop/change decisions with existing and emerging drugs and their combinations.
Leave a Reply