How Monjuvi Plus Revlimid, Rituxan Work to Treat Follicular Lymphoma

Among patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma (FL), the treatment combination of Monjuvi (tafasitamab-cxix) plus Revlimid (lenalidomide) and Rituxan (rituximab) has been found to result in a 57% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death when compared with placebo plus Revlimid and Rituxan, study results have shown.

Preliminary findings from the phase 3 inMIND trial were presented at the 2024 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and published in Blood.

In the study, at a median follow-up of 14.1 months, the addition of Monjuvi to Revlimid and Rituxan resulted in what researchers described in Blood as a significantly lower risk of progression, relapse or death versus treatment with placebo, with median progression-free survival times of 22.4 months for the Monjuvi group compared with 13.9 months in the placebo group.

“In the phase 3 inMIND trial, [Monjuvi] demonstrated impressive efficacy and safety for treating certain patients with follicular lymphoma, the most common type of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma,” said Dr. Steven Stein, Chief Medical Officer of Monjuvi manufacturer Incyte, in a news release issued by the company. “These data, the first to evaluate the novel approach of combining CD19 and CD20 immunotherapies, show the potential of [Monjuvi] in combination with [Revlimid] and [Rituxan] to become a new standard of care for these patients. We look forward to working with regulatory authorities to potentially bring this treatment forward to patients with FL.”

During the ASH conference, CURE® spoke with Dr. Christina Poh, a physician at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center and an assistant professor in the Division of Hematology and Oncology, University of Washington School of Medicine about how this combination works to treat cancer.

Transcript:

In terms of [Monjuvi] alone, [Monjuvi] is what we call an anti-CD19 monoclonal antibody. Essentially this drug targets CD19, which is a signal that is found on the surface of many of the cancer cells in the body, like follicular lymphoma. Once this drug sees CD19, it binds to it, and that stimulates the immune system to come to clear it up from the body. [Rituxan] is essentially another monoclonal antibody, but this is anti-CD20, so it does the exact same mechanism as [Monjuvi], but it targets CD20. [Revlimid] does a lot of things, but the overall thinking is it modulates the immune system to help these antibodies work better in our body.

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Reference

“Tafasitamab Plus Lenalidomide and Rituximab for Relapsed or Refractory Follicular Lymphoma: Results from a Phase 3 Study (inMIND)” by Dr. Laurie H. Sehn et al., Blood.

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