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Dr. Matthew Matasar is chief of the Division of Blood Disorders at Rutgers Cancer Institute and RWJBarnabas Health in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Among some patients with relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma whose disease progressed after CAR-T cell therapy, treatment with the bispecific antibody odronextamab has been associated with responses, according to study findings.
Study results were published in Blood and evaluated among patients who were treated with intravenous odronextamab weekly for four cycles followed by maintenance until disease progression. In these 60 patients, after a median follow-up of 16.2 months, the objective response rate and complete response rate were 48.3% and 31.7%, while the median duration of response was 14.8 months; the median duration of complete response was not reached.
Additionally, the median progression-free survival and overall survival were 4.8 and 10.2 months, respectively.
Objective response rate: patients who had a partial or complete response to treatment.
Complete response: the disappearance of cancer.
Progression-free survival: the time a patient lives without their disease spreading or worsening.
Overall survival: the time a patient lives, regardless of disease status.
Researchers noted in the study that, with the current lack of treatment options in this patient population, the results of this study support the potential use of odronextamab as an off-the-shelf treatment option after CAR-T therapy.
CURE spoke with one of the study’s co-authors, Dr. Matthew Matasar, about the findings. Matasar is chief of the Division of Blood Disorders at Rutgers Cancer Institute and RWJBarnabas Health in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
This study investigated a newer form of immunotherapy called bi-specific antibody therapy. The specific medicine we were studying is a medicine called odronextamab. This medication is not yet approved by the FDA in America but is approved in Europe, and we anticipate its approval in America, although similar medicines are already approved here.
In this study, we examined the use of odronextamab, this bi-specific antibody, and assessed its effectiveness in patients with relapsed, aggressive B-cell lymphoma whose disease had returned despite prior CAR-T cell therapy. This is a very challenging scenario, and the best approach to care for these patients is not well-established. Encouragingly, we found that odronextamab was very effective even after CAR-T cell therapy had failed our patients. That's the good news.
Even better, for patients whose CAR-T cell therapy provided a longer remission, holding the disease at bay for a year or longer, odronextamab was very effective, with the majority of patients experiencing a good response and a more durable response to odronextamab than we might have initially expected. The challenge is that not all patients benefited equally from odronextamab.
For patients whose CAR-T cell therapy did not work at all or worked very briefly, the odds of having a good response to odronextamab were considerably lower than in patients who experienced a significant benefit from their CAR-T cell therapy. So, we are learning that bi-specific antibodies can be very effective after CAR-T cell therapy failure, but as with many things in medicine, one size does not fit all.
Transcript was edited for clarity and conciseness.
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