Belantamab mafodotin: A ‘big step forward’ in relapsed, refractory multiple myeloma
Belantamab mafodotin produced sustained clinically meaningful responses in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, according to findings from the DREAMM-2 study presented at ASCO.
“[Belantamab mafodotin] represents a brand new target in myeloma in the sense that it targets a protein on the surface on myeloma cells called [B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA)],” Sagar Lonial, MD, chief medical officer of Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, professor and chair of the department of hematology and medical oncology at Emory University School of Medicine and HemOnc Today Editorial Board Member, said in an ASCO webinar led by Winship researchers.
Last year, Lonial and colleagues published phase 2 data that showed belantamab mafodotin (GSK2857916, GlaxoSmithKline), an investigational BCMA monoclonal antibody-drug conjugate, produced an overall response rate of about 30%.
At this meeting, they presented an update of 13-month follow-up on these data, according to Lonial. In this ongoing study, researchers examined single-agent belantamab mafodotin (2.5 or 3.4 mg/kg) in patients with heavily pretreated, relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma to determine the overall response rate.
“What we’re seeing at 13 months is that for the lower dose of belantamab mafodotin – the dose that we’re proposing to go forward with hopefully for FDA approval later on this year – the median remission duration was about 11 months, which puts it longer than any other drug in this resistant myeloma patient population,” Lonial said.
Lonial and colleagues reported that the overall response rate was 31% in the 2.5 mg/kg group (n = 97) and 35% in the 3.4 mg/kg group (n = 99). Further, the very good partial response rates were 19% vs. 24% in the lower dose vs. higher dose group. They also estimated that the 1-year overall survival rate was 53%, according to the abstract.
Adverse events included keratopathy (29% in the lower dose group vs. 24% in the higher dose group), thrombocytopenia (21% vs. 32%), anemia (20% vs. 27%), pneumonia (6% vs. 13%) and neutropenia (11% vs. 16%). Dose delays and dose reductions were used to manage adverse events, but discontinuation due to adverse events were rare (9% in the lower dose group vs. 12% in the higher dose group), according to the abstract.
“That is a big step forward. This is a brand-new target and what we hope will be the next in a treatment agent that we have for patients with relapse and refractory myeloma,” Lonial said.
Collapse
Lonial S, et al. Abstract 8538. Presented at: ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program; May 29-31, 2020.
Read more about