New Treatments
Since 2009, the United States Food and Drug Administration has approved two agents available for people with PTCL:
- Pralatrexate (Folotyn) was approved in September 2009 for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory PTCL.
- Romidepsin (Istodax) was granted accelerated approval as a treatment for people with PTCL who have received at least one prior therapy in June 2011.
In addition to these recent approvals for PTCL, in August 2011, brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris), an antibody-drug conjugate which targets CD30, was granted accelerated approval for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL).
Many new drugs are being studied in clinical trials for the treatment of PTCL, including:
- ABT-262
- AT-101
- Bortezomib (Velcade)
- Decapeptide
- Obatoclax (GX15-070)
- Panobinostat (Faridak)
- PXD101 (Belinostat)
- Vorinostat (Zolinza)
- Lenalidomide (Revlimid)
- Zanolimumab
Participating in Clinical Trials
Clinical trials are crucial in identifying effective drugs and determining optimal doses for lymphoma patients. Because peripheral T-cell lymphomas comprise such a rare group of diseases, clinical trial enrollment is crucial to establishing more effective, less toxic treatments. The rarity of these diseases also means that the most novel treatments are often only available through clinical trials. Patients interested in participating in a clinical trial should talk to their physician. Contact the Lymphoma Research Foundation’s Helpline for an individualized clinical trial search by calling (800) 500-9976 or emailing helpline@lymphoma.org.
