ABSTRACT
The GIMEMA phase II LLC1518 VERITAS trial investigated the efficacy and safety of frontline, fixed-duration venetoclax and rituximab (VenR) combination in young (≤65 years) and fit patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and unmutated IGHV and/or TP53 disruption. Treatment consisted of the Ven ramp-up, six-monthly courses of the VenR combination, followed by six monthly courses of Ven single agent. A centralized assessment of measurable minimal residual disease (MRD) was performed on the peripheral blood (PB) and bone marrow (BM) by ASO-PCR at the end of treatment (EOT) and during the follow-up. The primary endpoint was the complete remission (CR) rate at the EOT. Seventy-five patients were enrolled; the median age was 54 years (range 38-65), 96% had unmutated IGHV, 9 (12%) had TP53 disruption, and 4% were IGHV mutated with TP53 disruption. The overall response rate (ORR) at the EOT was 94.7%, with a CR rate of 76%. An undetectable (u) MRD was recorded in 69.3% of patients in the PB and 58.7% in the BM. The 12-month MRD-free survival in the 52 patients with uMRD in the PB at the EOT was 73.1%. After a median follow-up of 20.8 months, no disease progressions were observed. Three patients have died, two due to Covid-19 and 1 to tumor lysis syndrome. The first report of the VERITAS study shows that frontline VenR was associated with a high rate of CRs and durable responses with uMRD in young patients with CLL and unfavorable genetic characteristics.
ABSTRACT
Context: Durable responses with the immunotherapy tafasitamab+lenalidomide were previously reported in ASCT-ineligible patients with relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (R/R DLBCL) in the Phase II L-MIND trial (NCT02399085). Based on L-MIND, tafasitamab+lenalidomide received accelerated approval (US) and conditional approval (EU and other countries) in this setting. Objective: To describe the long-term efficacy and safety of tafasitamab+lenalidomide in L-MIND patients who received treatment for ≥2 years. Methods: Ongoing, multicenter, open-label, single-arm Phase II study. Eligibility: ≥18 years old, histologically confirmed DLBCL, and 1–3 prior systemic therapies for DLBCL, including ≥1 anti-CD20 therapy. Tafasitamab: twelve 28-day cycles (12 mg/kg IV) QW during Cycles 1–3, with a loading dose on Cycle 1 Day 4;Q2W Cycles 4–12. Lenalidomide: 25 mg PO Cycles 1–12 Days 1–21. Cycle 13+ tafasitamab monotherapy Q2W until disease progression. Time-to-event, treatment response, and safety endpoints were assessed. Results: Of 80 patients in the full analysis set, 27 (34%) received treatment for ≥2 years (median: 4.3 years). At data cut-off (February 15, 2022), 23 of 27 patients were confirmed alive, one was lost to follow-up, one died with unknown cause, and two died following adverse events (AEs) unrelated to study treatment. Thirteen patients remained on treatment, including six with treatment ≥5 years. Fourteen patients discontinued tafasitamab after ≥2 years due to progressive disease (n=4), patient/physician's decision (n=8), and non-treatment-related fatal AEs (n=2: one each, COVID-19 and cardiovascular AE). Among the 27 patients who received treatment for ≥2 years, the AE analysis for patients receiving tafasitamab+lenalidomide combination therapy (Cycles 1–12) and tafasitamab monotherapy (Cycles 13–24) by exposure-adjusted incidence revealed lower incidence of AEs during tafasitamab monotherapy compared with combination therapy. The majority of AEs were Grade 1–2. The most common AEs (≥1 event/patient-year) were neutropenia and diarrhea during combination (incidence, all-grade/Grade ≥3 AEs: 3.87/1.91 and 1.04/0.04, respectively) and following monotherapy (incidence, all-grade/Grade ≥3 AEs: 0.87/0.45 and 0.32/0.0, respectively). Conclusions: Tafasitamab+lenalidomide followed by tafasitamab monotherapy provided durable responses, with long-term treatment efficacy in those patients who received tafasitamab for up to 5 years. The adverse event burden decreased as patients transitioned from combination therapy to tafasitamab monotherapy. Funding: MorphoSys AG.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Melphalan flufenamide (melflufen), an alkylating peptide-drug conjugate, plus dexamethasone showed clinical activity and manageable safety in the phase 2 HORIZON study. We aimed to determine whether melflufen plus dexamethasone would provide a progression-free survival benefit compared with pomalidomide plus dexamethasone in patients with previously treated multiple myeloma. METHODS: In this randomised, open-label, head-to-head, phase 3 study (OCEAN), adult patients (aged ≥18 years) were recruited from 108 university hospitals, specialist hospitals, and community-based centres in 21 countries across Europe, North America, and Asia. Eligible patients had an ECOG performance status of 0-2; must have had relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, refractory to lenalidomide (within 18 months of randomisation) and to the last line of therapy; and have received two to four previous lines of therapy (including lenalidomide and a proteasome inhibitor). Patients were randomly assigned (1:1), stratified by age, number of previous lines of therapy, and International Staging System score, to either 28-day cycles of melflufen and dexamethasone (melflufen group) or pomalidomide and dexamethasone (pomalidomide group). All patients received dexamethasone 40 mg orally on days 1, 8, 15, and 22 of each cycle. In the melflufen group, patients received melflufen 40 mg intravenously over 30 min on day 1 of each cycle and in the pomalidomide group, patients received pomalidomide 4 mg orally daily on days 1 to 21 of each cycle. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival assessed by an independent review committee in the intention-to-treat (ITT) population. Safety was assessed in patients who received at least one dose of study medication. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03151811, and is ongoing. FINDINGS: Between June 12, 2017, and Sept 3, 2020, 246 patients were randomly assigned to the melflufen group (median age 68 years [IQR 60-72]; 107 [43%] were female) and 249 to the pomalidomide group (median age 68 years [IQR 61-72]; 109 [44%] were female). 474 patients received at least one dose of study drug (melflufen group n=228; pomalidomide group n=246; safety population). Data cutoff was Feb 3, 2021. Median progression-free survival was 6·8 months (95% CI 5·0-8·5; 165 [67%] of 246 patients had an event) in the melflufen group and 4·9 months (4·2-5·7; 190 [76%] of 249 patients had an event) in the pomalidomide group (hazard ratio [HR] 0·79, [95% CI 0·64-0·98]; p=0·032), at a median follow-up of 15·5 months (IQR 9·4-22·8) in the melflufen group and 16·3 months (10·1-23·2) in the pomalidomide group. Median overall survival was 19·8 months (95% CI 15·1-25·6) at a median follow-up of 19·8 months (IQR 12·0-25·0) in the melflufen group and 25·0 months (95% CI 18·1-31·9) in the pomalidomide group at a median follow-up of 18·6 months (IQR 11·8-23·7; HR 1·10 [95% CI 0·85-1·44]; p=0·47). The most common grade 3 or 4 treatment-emergent adverse events were thrombocytopenia (143 [63%] of 228 in the melflufen group vs 26 [11%] of 246 in the pomalidomide group), neutropenia (123 [54%] vs 102 [41%]), and anaemia (97 [43%] vs 44 [18%]). Serious treatment-emergent adverse events occurred in 95 (42%) patients in the melflufen group and 113 (46%) in the pomalidomide group, the most common of which were pneumonia (13 [6%] vs 21 [9%]), COVID-19 pneumonia (11 [5%] vs nine [4%]), and thrombocytopenia (nine [4%] vs three [1%]). 27 [12%] patients in the melflufen group and 32 [13%] in the pomalidomide group had fatal treatment-emergent adverse events. Fatal treatment-emergent adverse events were considered possibly treatment related in two patients in the melflufen group (one with acute myeloid leukaemia, one with pancytopenia and acute cardiac failure) and four patients in the pomalidomide group (two patients with pneumonia, one with myelodysplastic syndromes, one with COVID-19 pneumonia). INTERPRETATION: Melflufen plus dexamethasone showed superior progression-free survival than pomalidomide plus dexamethasone in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. FUNDING: Oncopeptides AB.