Roche today announced that new data on its investigational CD20xCD3 T-cell engaging bispecific antibodies, mosunetuzumab and glofitamab, and its first-in-class anti-CD79b antibody-drug conjugate, Polivy® (polatuzumab vedotin), in non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) will be presented at the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting from 4-8 June 2021.
“People with difficult-to-treat blood cancers such as non-Hodgkin lymphoma still need more options to help improve outcomes,” said Levi Garraway, M.D., Ph.D., Roche’s Chief Medical Officer and Head of Global Product Development. “We are encouraged by promising data from our emerging T-cell engaging bispecific antibodies, mosunetuzumab and glofitamab, and the antibody-drug conjugate, Polivy, that demonstrate the potential of these novel immunotherapeutic approaches for various groups of patients.”
While approximately 500,000 people worldwide are diagnosed with NHL each year, treatment options are currently limited and resistance to existing therapies or relapse following treatment is common. The most prevalent form of NHL, accounting for about 40% of newly diagnosed NHL cases, is an aggressive form called diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), that comes with a life expectancy of weeks or months if left untreated.
In clinical trials to date, the investigational CD20xCD3 T-cell engaging bispecific antibodies, mosunetuzumab and glofitamab, have shown promising responses across multiple types of NHL, including relapsed or refractory (R/R) DLBCL and follicular lymphoma (FL). Pivotal data for these medicines are expected this year and Roche is targeting a regulatory filing for mosunetuzumab in FL by the end of 2021, following its U.S. Food and Drug Administration Breakthrough Therapy Designation granted in June 2020. Key data on mosunetuzumab and glofitamab to be presented at the meeting include:
- Phase I NP30179 study investigating step-up dosing of glofitamab in heavily pre-treated R/R NHL, showed high, ongoing complete responses (CRs) and an acceptable safety profile. After a median follow-up of 6.3 months, results showed that glofitamab achieved a complete metabolic response rate, defined as the disappearance of metabolic tumour activity, of 71.4% in patients with aggressive (fast-growing) NHL. The most common adverse events (AEs) were cytokine release syndrome (CRS) (63.5%), neutropenia (38.5%), and pyrexia (32.7%); CRS events were mostly low grade and confined to the first cycle of treatment.
- Phase I/II GO40516 study of mosunetuzumab in combination with Polivy in R/R NHL showed promising efficacy and an acceptable safety profile. The regimen achieved a CR of 54.5% in all patients. Eighty six percent of patients evaluated had aggressive NHL, and these patients achieved a CR rate of 47.4%. The most frequent treatment-related AEs were neutropenia (45.4%), fatigue, nausea, and diarrhoea (all 36.4%) and CRS (9.1%; all Grade 1).
Broad development programmes are ongoing for mosunetuzumab and glofitamab, including the phase III GO42909 trial investigating mosunetuzumab plus lenalidomide versus MabThera®/Rituxan® (rituximab) plus lenalidomide in R/R FL, which will soon be enrolling patients. For glofitamab, the phase III GO41944 open-label, randomised trial designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of glofitamab plus gemcitabine and oxaliplatin (glofit-GemOx) versus MabThera/Rituxan plus GemOx in patients with R/R DLBCL, is also ongoing.
Roche is committed to pursuing treatment solutions that can be tailored to meet the various needs of both people living with NHL and healthcare professionals. Polivy is already a treatment option for people with R/R DLBCL and continues to show potential in multiple combinations. Key data at the meeting include:
- New triplet combination of Polivy with MabThera/Rituxan and lenalidomide, which demonstrated promising activity in difficult-to-treat R/R DLBCL, based on results from the phase Ib/II GO29834 study. With a median follow-up of 9.7 months, median overall survival was 10.9 months (95% CI: 7.4–NE) and median progression-free survival was 6.3 months (95% CI: 4.5–9.7) in patients treated with the triplet. The most commonly reported Grade 3-4 AEs were neutropenia (58.0%), thrombocytopenia (14.0%), infections (14.0%) and anaemia (11.0%).
