Key clinical point: Treatment with bendamustine plus rituximab (BR) did not show a survival advantage for Medicare patients with follicular lymphoma, mantle cell lymphoma, or marginal zone/lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma, compared with cyclophosphamide-based regimens.

Major finding: Event-free survival was significantly better with BR, but there was no significant different in overall survival between the two groups (Hazard Ratio, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.91-1.17).

Study details: An analysis of Medicare claims for more than 3,400 patients with B-cell lymphomas receiving first-line BR or cyclophosphamide-based chemotherapy from 2009-2016.

Disclosures: The study was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the University of Southern California, and the California Department of Public Health. Dr. Olszewski reported institutional research funding from Genentech/Roche, Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, and TG Therapeutics.