Peter Mac’s Associate Professor Michael Dickinson has presented new data from a trial of the investigational blood cancer drug Glofitamab, at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago overnight.

Associate Professor Dickinson presented results from the phase II NP30179 expansion study, in which 155 patients with relapsed or refractory Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma were followed-up more than a year (median 12.6 months) after Glofitamab treatment.

Glofitamab is a CD20xCD3 T-cell engaging bispecific antibody treatment being developed by Roche as a monotherapy, or in combination with other medicines, for a range of blood cancers.

The patients - all part of a multi-centre, international trial which included Peter Mac as a major recruitment site - had received at least two previous forms of treatment, some including CAR T-cell therapy, before Glofitamab.

The expansion study found that more than a third of the patients (39.4%) achieved a “complete response” of their disease – meaning their cancer became undetectable – while half (51.6%) had an overall response (a partial or complete response) to Glofitamab.

Associate Professor Dickinson said these effects were durable, as for most (77.6%) patients with a complete response this was ongoing at 12 months.

“I’m encouraged by these data as they signify new hope for these patients who otherwise have limited effective treatment options and have faced disappointment from their disease not responding to multiple prior rounds of treatments,” said Associate Professor Dickinson, who is Lead of the Aggressive Lymphoma Disease Group within Clinical Haematology Department at Peter Mac and Royal Melbourne Hospital.

“These Glofitamab data suggest that patients may be able to achieve durable control of their disease with a set course of treatment that they don’t have to take continuously until disease progression.”

The first-in-human trials of this investigational drug were conducted at Peter Mac, and recruitment is also underway for several further trials of Glofitamab.

One these is the Peter-Mac led COALITION trial, which combines Glofitamab with chemotherapy in younger patients with higher risk blood cancers as a front line therapy for large B-cell lymphoma.

 

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Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre is a world-leading cancer research, education and treatment centre and Australia’s only public health service solely dedicated to caring for people affected by cancer.