VIDEO: The DLBCL treatment landscape

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I would say that right now, the DLBCL treatment landscape is becoming increasingly crowded. Over the last few years, we see that we have a number of new options and opportunities in the treatment of our patients, including new potential standard first-line treatment in the form of the POLARIX regimen, of polatuzumab (Polivy, Genentech) plus R-CHP, on the basis of the POLARIX trial, now with favorable government review and inclusion in guidelines.

For patients with relapsed or refractory large cell lymphoma, in addition to the three prior CAR T-cell therapy agents approved in third line, followed by the approval of both liso-cel [lisocabtagene maraleucel (Breyanzi, Bristol Myers Squibb)]and axi-cel [axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta, Kite Pharma/Gilead Sciences)] for patients with second-line treatment needs, we now have, most recently, approval of epcoritamab (Epkinly; Genmab, AbbVie) monotherapy in the treatment of patients with multiply relapsed or refractory large cell lymphoma, the first bispecific antibody approved for the treatment of DLBCL.

Later, on top of that, we see a number of very interesting and promising ongoing clinical trials, most importantly for patients with newly diagnosed disease, including ongoing studies such as the ESCALADE trial, which is incorporating acalabrutinib (Calquence, AstraZeneca) in the treatment of younger patients with activated B-cell phenotype large cell lymphoma, to other studies that are attempting to incorporate treatments like tafasitamab (Monjuvi; MorphoSys, Incyte) plus lenalidomide (Revlimid, Bristol Myers Squibb), or even bispecific antibodies, in an attempt to improve outcomes for patients with newly diagnosed diffuse R/R B-cell lymphoma. I'm optimistic about these approaches, and I hope that in the upcoming years, we will see an increasingly fragmented landscape, where we have a number of positive trials and thus a number of new opportunities for us to personalize treatment in pursuit of better outcomes.