Epcoritamab elicits durable responses in patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma, according to research published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Epcoritamab — a subcutaneous bispecific antibody that targets both CD3 and CD20 — was designed to activate T cells to kill CD20-expressing cancer cells.
Researchers evaluated epcoritamab in a phase 1/2 study (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03625037) of 157 adults with relapsed or refractory, CD20-positive large B-cell lymphoma who had received at least 2 prior lines of therapy, including anti-CD20 therapies.
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The median patient age was 64 years, 59.9% of patients were men, 88.5% of patients had diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, 61.8% of patients had Ann Arbor stage IV disease, and 61.1% had primary refractory disease. Patients had received a median of 3 (range, 2-11) prior lines of therapy, including chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy (38.9%).
The patients received subcutaneous epcoritamab in 28-day cycles (once weekly step-up doses in weeks 1-3 of cycle 1, then full doses once weekly through cycle 3, once every 2 weeks in cycles 4-9, and once every 4 weeks in cycle 10 and beyond). Patients were treated until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.
The median follow-up was 10.7 months. The overall response rate was 63.1%, and the complete response rate was 38.9%. The median duration of response was 12 months in the overall cohort and was not reached in patients with a complete response.
Treatment-emergent adverse events included cytokine release syndrome (49.7%), pyrexia (23.6%), fatigue (22.9%), and immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity (ICANs; 6.4%). There was 1 fatal case of ICANS.
“Subcutaneous epcoritamab resulted in deep and durable responses and manageable safety in highly refractory patients with large B-cell lymphoma, including those with prior CAR T-cell exposure,” the researchers wrote.
Disclosures: This research was supported by Genmab and AbbVie. Some study authors declared affiliations with biotech, pharmaceutical, and/or device companies. Please see the original reference for a full list of disclosures.
Reference
Thieblemont C, Phillips T, Ghesquieres H, et al. Epcoritamab, a novel, subcutaneous CD3xCD20 bispecific T-cell-engaging antibody, in relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma: Dose expansion in a phase I/II trial. J Clin Oncol. Published online December 22, 2022. doi:10.1200/JCO.22.01725
This article originally appeared on Hematology Advisor
