frontMIND: Phase 3 study of tafasitamab (Tafa) plus lenalidomide (Len) and R-CHOP for patients (pts) with newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).
LBA7000 Background: ~40% of DLBCL pts are not cured with first-line (1L) R-CHOP, underscoring a significant unmet need for more effective 1L regimens. Tafa (anti-CD19 mAb) + Len-R-CHOP in the phase 1b First-MIND study demonstrated safety and efficacy in pts with newly diagnosed disease. frontMIND, a phase 3, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, compared Tafa-Len-R-CHOP vs R-CHOP in pts with high-risk aggressive BCLs. Methods: Pts aged 18–80 y with newly diagnosed, high-intermediate/high-risk DLBCL or HGBL (IPI 3–5, aaIPI 2–3 if ≤60 y) and ECOG PS 0–2 were randomized 1:1 to Tafa-Len-R-CHOP or R-CHOP. Primary endpoint was investigator-assessed PFS; secondary endpoints included: EFS, OS, CR, ORR, safety. Results: At primary analysis (data cutoff Oct 20, 2025), 899 pts were randomized to Tafa-Len-R-CHOP (n=448) or R-CHOP (n=451); baseline characteristics were similar between arms. With a median follow-up of 35.2 mo, Tafa-Len-R-CHOP achieved a statistically significant improvement in PFS vs R-CHOP (HR 0.75 [95% CI: 0.59, 0.96]; P =0.019) in the overall population; in pts with centrally confirmed lymphoma subtypes (n=773), PFS HR was 0.68 (95% CI: 0.52, 0.88) and 24-mo PFS was 72.7% vs 62.2%. PFS benefit was observed with Tafa-Len-R-CHOP in both molecular COO subtypes, ABC and GCB (data will be presented). Tafa-Len-R-CHOP significantly improved EFS vs R-CHOP; CR and ORR were similar between arms and HR for OS was 0.85 (final OS planned at 5y) (Table). Any-grade TEAEs were similar in treatment arms (98.6% vs 97.1%); more grade ≥3 TEAEs occurred with Tafa-Len-R-CHOP vs R-CHOP (86.7% vs 76.1%). Discontinuations due to TEAEs occurred in 25.7% vs 17.9% and deaths due to TEAEs in 5.9% vs 3.8% of pts for Tafa-Len-R-CHOP vs R-CHOP. Overall, there were fewer deaths with Tafa-Len-R-CHOP vs R-CHOP (18.5% vs 21.7%). Conclusions: The primary endpoint of frontMIND was met; Tafa-Len-R-CHOP resulted in a significant 25% reduction in risk of disease progression or death compared with R-CHOP, with an 8.2% difference in 24-month PFS rate in the overall population and 10.5% difference in pts with centrally confirmed lymphoma subtypes. TEAEs were manageable and consistent with the expected safety profile. Tafa-Len-R-CHOP represents a potential new 1L standard of care for pts with both COO subtypes of high-risk DLBCL or HGBL. Clinical trial information: NCT04824092 . Efficacy outcomes by treatment arm.* Variable Tafa-Len-R-CHOP(n=448) R-CHOP(n=451) HR or OR(95% CI) P value PFS, # events (%) † 121 (27.0) 155 (34.4) 0.75 (0.59, 0.96) 0.019 PFS rate at 24 mo, % 71.1 62.9 − − PFS rate at 36 mo, % 67.3 60.7 − − EFS, # events (%) 154 (34.4) 191 (42.4) 0.79 (0.64, 0.97) 0.026 OS, # events (%) 82 (18.3) 95 (21.1) 0.85 (0.63, 1.14) 0.270 CR at EOT, n (%) 292 (65.2) 294 (65.2) 0.998 (0.76, 1.31) 0.987 ‡ ORR at EOT, n (%) 360 (80.4) 343 (76.1) 1.290 (0.94, 1.78) 0.120 ‡ *Investigator-assessed. † Progressive disease or death from any cause. ‡ Nominal P value.
Golseek-1: A Phase 3, double-blind, randomized study of golcadomide (GOLCA), a potential, first-in-class, oral CELMoD™ agent, + R-CHOP vs placebo + R-CHOP in patients with previously untreated, high-risk, large B-cell lymphoma
Abstract Background and Significance Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and other LBCLs account for 35–40% of non-Hodgkin lymphoma cases in North America, Europe, and East Asia. Rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (R-CHOP) is the standard first-line treatment for DLBCL, achieving cure rates in approximately 60–70% of patients. However, 30–40% of patients will relapse or become refractory (R/R) to treatment, facing poor prognosis. Patients with high International Prognostic Index (IPI) scores (3–5) and those with IPI 1–2 who have bulky disease and/or very high lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) are recognized as high-risk (HR) subsets with suboptimal outcomes (Maurer et al, ASH 2023, #4512). Novel combination strategies are an area of focus for improving efficacy in this population. GOLCA is a potential, first-in-class, oral CELMoD agent designed for the treatment of lymphoma, with preferential distribution to lymphoid organs and enhanced activity in lymphoma cell lines. GOLCA drives the closed, active conformation of cereblon to induce rapid and deep degradation of Ikaros and Aiolos, leading to direct cell killing (agnostic of cell of origin [COO]) and immunomodulatory activity. In the Phase 1b study CC-220-DLBCL-001, GOLCA in combination with R-CHOP demonstrated a predictable and manageable safety profile with high rates of durable responses, irrespective of COO, in previously untreated aggressive B-cell lymphomas (BCL), including promising activity in HR patients (Amzallag et al, ASH 2024, #579). The median relative dose intensity for GOLCA and CHO components was high (97–99%), indicating uncompromised delivery of curative standard-of-care treatment and combinability. GOLCA ± rituximab has also shown encouraging efficacy and safety in patients with R/R DLBCL (Bachy et al, ICML, #148). These findings support the further study of GOLCA + R-CHOP combination in the Phase 3 setting. Study Design and Methods GOLSEEK-1 (NCT06356129) is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, Phase 3 study evaluating GOLCA + R-CHOP versus placebo + R-CHOP in patients with previously untreated HR LBCL. Approximately 850 patients with previously untreated LBCL will be randomized 1:1 to either GOLCA + R-CHOP or placebo + R-CHOP. Eligible patients include those with histologically confirmed LBCL per WHO 2022 criteria—including DLBCL (not otherwise specified [NOS], ABC/GCB), high-grade BCL with MYC and BCL2 rearrangements or NOS, T-cell/histiocyte–rich LBCL, or Epstein Barr Virus-positive DLBCL. HR status is defined by IPI ≥3, or IPI 1–2 with HR features: LDH >1.3× upper limit of normal and/or bulky disease (≥7 cm lesion). All patients must have measurable disease as defined by Lugano criteria. Key exclusion criteria are other lymphoma subtypes such as primary mediastinal LBCL; primary cutaneous DLBCL-leg type, grade 3b follicular lymphoma (FL); transformed indolent lymphoma; anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) positive LBCL; primary effusion lymphoma; and Burkitt lymphoma and known or suspected central nervous system involvement. Randomization will be stratified by IPI score (HR 1–2 and 3 vs 4–5) and bulky disease status (≥7 cm vs <7 cm). After a screening period of ≤4 weeks, patients will receive either GOLCA (0.4 mg) or placebo orally once daily for 7 consecutive days in each of 6 cycles, combined with R-CHOP every 21 days. The primary endpoint is progression-free survival (PFS) by investigator assessment per Lugano Response Criteria. Key secondary endpoints include PFS in non–high-grade BCL, event-free survival, independently assessed complete metabolic response, undetectable minimal residual disease by PhasED-Seq (defined as undetectable circulating tumor DNA levels at end of treatment), and overall survival. Patients will be followed up for up to approximately 67 months after beginning treatment. This study is currently recruiting at 309 sites in 36 countries , across the United States, Europe, Latin America, and East Asia. Acknowledgement BMS Artificial Intelligence was used to revise existing text with human author oversight.
Tumor Treating Fields With Gemcitabine and Nab-Paclitaxel for Locally Advanced Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma: Randomized, Open-Label, Pivotal Phase III PANOVA-3 Study
PURPOSE Tumor treating fields (TTFields) use alternating electric fields to disrupt cancer cell proliferation. Feasibility of TTFields therapy with gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel was previously demonstrated in patients with advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma. PANOVA-3 was designed to confirm safety and efficacy of TTFields in patients with unresectable locally advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma (LA-PAC). METHODS In this global phase III trial, 571 patients with newly diagnosed LA-PAC were randomly assigned to receive gemcitabine 1,000 mg/m 2 and nab-paclitaxel 125 mg/m 2 by intravenous infusion once a day on days 1, 8, and 15 of a 28-day cycle with or without TTFields. The primary end point was overall survival (OS). Secondary end points included progression-free survival (PFS), local PFS, pain-free survival, and overall response rate (ORR). Distant PFS was analyzed post hoc. RESULTS OS was significantly prolonged using TTFields with gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel versus gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel (median, 16.2 months [95% CI, 15.0 to 18.0] v 14.2 months [95% CI, 12.8 to 15.4]; hazard ratio [HR], 0.82 [95% CI, 0.68 to 0.99]; P = .039). PFS, local PFS, and ORR were not improved. Pain-free survival was significantly prolonged with TTFields with gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel (median, 15.2 months [95% CI, 10.3 to 22.8] v 9.1 months [95% CI, 7.4 to 12.7]; HR, 0.74 [95% CI, 0.56 to 0.97]; P = .027), as was distant PFS (median, 13.9 months [95% CI, 12.2 to 16.8] v 11.5 months [95% CI, 10.4 to 12.9]; HR, 0.74 [95% CI, 0.57 to 0.96]; P = .022). Device-related skin adverse events (AEs) were experienced by 76.3% of patients. Most device-related skin AEs were mild to moderate, with 7.7% of patients reporting a grade 3 AE. CONCLUSION This study demonstrated significant OS, pain-free survival, and distant PFS benefits for TTFields with gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel versus gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel in patients with unresectable LA-PAC, with no additive systemic toxicity.
Acalabrutinib Plus Bendamustine-Rituximab in Untreated Mantle Cell Lymphoma
PURPOSE The combination of the Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor ibrutinib with bendamustine-rituximab for first-line treatment of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) prolonged progression-free survival (PFS), but without improvement in overall survival (OS), likely because of toxicity. Acalabrutinib was shown to be efficacious and less toxic than ibrutinib in a head-to-head trial in chronic lymphocytic leukemia and therefore might lead to better outcomes in MCL. METHODS Patients 65 years and older with previously untreated MCL received acalabrutinib (100 mg twice daily) or placebo (until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity), plus six cycles of bendamustine (90 mg/m 2 once daily; days 1 and 2) and rituximab (375 mg/m 2 as a single dose; day 1) followed by rituximab maintenance in responding patients for 2 years. Crossover to acalabrutinib at disease progression was permitted. The primary end point was PFS per the independent review committee; overall response rate and OS were secondary end points. RESULTS In total, 598 patients were randomly assigned, with 299 in each arm. At a median follow-up of 49.8 months using the reverse Kaplan-Meier method, the median PFS was 66.4 months in the acalabrutinib arm and 49.6 months in the placebo arm (hazard ratio [HR], 0.73 [95% CI, 0.57 to 0.94]; P = .0160). Benefit was seen across all subgroups, including those with high-risk features. Overall response/complete response rates were 91.0%/66.6% and 88.0%/53.5% in the acalabrutinib and placebo arms, respectively. OS was not significantly different (HR, 0.86 [95% CI, 0.65 to 1.13]; P = .27). Grade 3 or greater adverse events were reported in 88.9% and 88.2% in the acalabrutinib and placebo arms, respectively. CONCLUSION The combination of acalabrutinib with bendamustine-rituximab significantly improved PFS. Clinical benefit of acalabrutinib with bendamustine-rituximab was achieved with manageable toxicity.
Outcomes in Older Patients with Relapsed/Refractory (R/R) Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) from the ECHELON-3 Study
Introduction Age correlates with survival in patients (pts) with DLBCL, which has a median age at diagnosis of 67 y. Recent therapeutic advances, including bispecifics and cell therapy, have promising efficacy, but safety and accessibility continue to be limited for older pts. The randomized, global, phase 3 ECHELON-3 study (NCT04404283) demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall response rate (ORR) with brentuximab vedotin (BV) + lenalidomide (Len) + rituximab (R; BV+Len+R) vs placebo+Len+R in pts with R/R DLBCL after ≥ 2 prior systemic therapies who were ineligible for hematopoietic stem cell transplant and/or chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. Here, we present safety and efficacy in pts aged ≥65 y. Methods In ECHELON-3, pts were randomized 1:1 to receive BV (1.2 mg/kg) or placebo every 3 weeks (q3w), in combination with R (375 mg/m2) q3w and Len (20 mg) once daily. Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor was required in all cycles. Efficacy was assessed by investigators per Lugano 2014 classification. The primary endpoint was OS, with key secondary endpoints of PFS and ORR. Other secondary endpoints included detailed safety and tolerability. This subgroup analysis comprises pts aged ≥65 y. P values are descriptive. Results A total of 155 pts aged ≥65 y were enrolled from April 2021 to November 2023 and randomized to BV+Len+R (n=79) or placebo+Len+R (n=76). The median age was 75 y (range, 65-89 y); 54% of pts were male, 59% were White, and 19% were Asian. Twenty-three percent and 54% had Ann Arbor stage III and IV disease, respectively, and 64% had high-intermediate or high International Prognostic Index scores (3-5) at enrollment. The most common DLBCL subtype was DLBCL not otherwise specified (58%). Twenty-nine percent of pts had transformed DLBCL. Approximately half (49%) of pts had primary refractory disease, and 81% had disease refractory to their most recent prior line of therapy. Seventy percent of pts had <1% CD30 expression via IHC; 48% of cases had germinal center B-cell origin. Prior CAR-T was reported in 21.9% of pts. At a median follow-up of 16.8 mo (95% CI, 14.3-19.5 mo), median OS was 15.9 mo (95% CI, 11.7 mo-not estimable [NE]) with BV+Len+R vs 8.5 mo (95% CI, 5.5-11.5 mo) with placebo+Len+R (hazard ratio [HR], 0.540; 95% CI, 0.351-0.830; P=.0043). Median PFS was 5.7 mo (95% CI, 4.1-12.7 mo) with BV+Len+R vs 2.8 mo (95% CI, 1.9-4.1 mo) with placebo+Len+R (HR, 0.478; 95% CI, 0.318-0.718; P=.0003). ORR was 70.9% (95% CI, 59.6%-80.6%) with BV+Len+R vs 46.1% (95% CI, 34.5%-57.9%) with placebo+Len+R (P=.0020); complete response (CR) rate was 45.6% vs 19.7%, respectively. Median time to CR was 1.61 mo with both BV+Len+R and placebo+Len+R (range, 1.2-7.3 vs 0.7-4.6 mo, respectively). Median duration of CR was 18.9 mo (95% CI, 12.4 mo-NE) with BV+Len+R vs 5.4 mo (95% CI, 2.8 mo-NE) with placebo+Len+R (HR, 0.416; 95% CI, 0.139-1.250). In total, 154 pts were evaluable for safety analysis (75 pts in placebo+Len+R group). The median number of cycles was 5 (range, 1-34) vs 3 (range, 1-31) in the BV+Len+R and placebo+Len+R groups, respectively. The percentage of pts with any treatment-emergent adverse event (TEAE) was similar between groups (97% with BV+Len+R and 99% with placebo+Len+R); grade ≥3 TEAEs occurred in 89% of pts in the BV+Len+R group and 76% in the placebo+Len+R group. Serious TEAEs and TEAEs leading to death were reported more frequently in the BV+Len+R group (62% and 13%, respectively) than the placebo+Len+R group (47% and 8%, respectively). More pts discontinued study treatment due to TEAEs in the BV+Len+R group than the placebo+Len+R group (20% vs 8%). In total, 39% of pts on BV+Len+R had a peripheral neuropathy event vs 27% of pts on placebo+Len+R; however, the majority of cases were grade 1 (22% and 17%, respectively). Additional information on older pts will be presented. Conclusions BV+Len+R demonstrated a clinically meaningful improvement in all key efficacy outcomes in pts aged ≥65 y, which is consistent with the overall ECHELON-3 population (median age 74 y; 70.5% of pts aged ≥65 y in BV+Len+R group). Differences in some safety endpoints are likely attributable to longer duration of treatment in the BV+Len+R group. No clinically meaningful safety trends in pts aged ≥65 y were identified. These results suggest that BV+Len+R may be an effective treatment option in older pts with R/R DLBCL.
Zanubrutinib monotherapy in relapsed/refractory indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma
Abstract Outcomes for marginal zone lymphoma (MZL) and follicular lymphoma (FL) remain suboptimal, owing to the limited number of approved agents and the incurable nature of the diseases. BGB-3111-AU-003 was a phase 1/2, open-label, multicenter, single-agent study of the selective Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor zanubrutinib in 385 patients with B-cell malignancies. Here, we present safety and efficacy outcomes for the 53 enrolled patients with relapsed/refractory MZL (n = 20) and relapsed/refractory FL (n = 33), all of whom were enrolled during the part 2 dose expansion, and therefore received zanubrutinib at the recommended phase 2 dose. Treatment with zanubrutinib was generally well tolerated, with most adverse events being ≤ grade 2. Atrial fibrillation/flutter was not reported. Two patients required dose reduction, and 4 patients discontinued treatment because of adverse events. Response was assessed by an independent review committee for MZL and the investigators for FL, per Lugano 2014 classification for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In patients with MZL, the overall response rate (ORR) was 80%, and the complete response (CR) rate was 20%. With median follow-up of 33.8 months, median progression-free survival (PFS) was not reached. In patients with FL, the ORR was 36.4%, and the CR rate was 18.2%. After a median follow-up of 33.9 months, median PFS was 10.4 months. In conclusion, the results of this study suggest a favorable benefit–risk profile and support zanubrutinib as a potentially meaningful addition to available therapies for patients with relapsed/refractory MZL and FL. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT02343120.