Clinical Characteristics and Responses of Patients with Relapsed or Refractory High-Grade B-Cell Lymphoma Treated with Loncastuximab Tesirine in the Lotis-2 Clinical Trial
Authors: Alderuccio Juan Pablo , Ai Weiyun Z. , Radford John , Solh Melhem , Ardeshna Kirit M. , Lunning Matthew A. , Hess Brian T. , Zinzani Pier Luigi , Stathis Anastasios , Carlo-Stella Carmelo , Hamadani Mehdi , Kahl Brad S. , Ungar David , Kilavuz Turk , Yu Eric , Qin Yajuan , Caimi Paolo F. 
Published: November 2021

Introduction: Loncastuximab tesirine (loncastuximab tesirine-lpyl; Lonca) is an FDA-approved CD19-directed antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) indicated for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) large B-cell lymphoma after ≥2 lines of systemic therapy, including patients with high-grade B-cell lymphoma. In the Phase 2 LOTIS-2 trial (NCT03589469), Lonca was evaluated as a single agent in patients with R/R diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and the overall response rate (ORR) was 48.3% (Caimi PF, et al. Lancet Oncol. 2021; 22:790-800). In an analysis of the 11 patients from the LOTIS-2 clinical trial with high-grade B-cell lymphoma with MYC and BCL2 and/or BCL6 rearrangements (HGBCL; data cutoff: April 6, 2020), 45.5% (n=5) achieved an overall response. In this patient subgroup, the median duration of response was 13.37 months, and the median progression-free survival was 9.13 months. The aim of this analysis (data cut off: March 1, 2021) was to further characterize the clinical characteristics and efficacy of Lonca in patients with HGBCL enrolled in the LOTIS-2 clinical trial.

Methods: The methodology for the LOTIS-2 trial has been published. Briefly, Lonca (0.15 mg/kg for the first 2 cycles followed by 0.075 mg/kg for subsequent cycles) was administered as a single 30-minute infusion, once every 3 weeks for up to 1 year, until progressive disease or unacceptable toxicity. The primary outcome was ORR defined as the proportion of patients with best overall response of complete response (CR) or partial response (PR), assessed by independent review. Investigator assessment of histopathology according to the 2016 WHO classification was used to define HGBCL.

Results: The demographics and disease characteristics of the 11 patients with HGBCL are shown in Table 1. The median age was 74 years; 5 patients (45.5%) were age ≥75 years. The majority of patients received ≥3 prior lines of therapy (n = 8; 72.7%). One patient had a prior stem cell transplant (autologous; 9.1%). Of the 11 patients with HGBCL, the overall response rate was 45.5%, with all 5 patients achieving CR. The median (min, max) time to first CR or PR response was 43.0 (38, 148) days and the median time to first CR response was 79.0 (38, 148) days. All five responding patients (45.5%) had a duration of response ≥1 year; median duration of response has not been reached at the time of data cutoff.

Conclusions: Efficacy data from this small subgroup of patients with HGBCL enrolled in the LOTIS-2 clinical trial are consistent with the overall trial population. These results suggest that Lonca is active in the treatment of this high-risk lymphoma subgroup, achieving comparable response rates with other risk groups and with long-term disease control in responding patients.

Funding: This study was funded by ADC Therapeutics; medical writing support was provided by CiTRUS Health Group.

Figure 1 Figure 1.

Disclosures

Alderuccio: Inovio Pharmaceuticals: Other: Family member; Agios Pharmaceuticals: Other: Family member; Puma Biotechnology: Other: Family member; ADC Therapeutics: Consultancy, Research Funding; Oncinfo / OncLive: Honoraria; Forma Therapeutics: Other: Family member. Ai: Kymria, Kite, ADC Therapeutics, BeiGene: Consultancy. Radford: ADC Therapeutics: Consultancy, Current holder of individual stocks in a privately-held company, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; BMS: Honoraria; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; AstraZeneca: Current holder of individual stocks in a privately-held company. Solh: Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy; BMS: Consultancy; Partner Therapeutics: Research Funding; ADCT Therapeutics: Consultancy, Research Funding. Ardeshna: Gilead, Beigene, Celegene, Novartis and Roche: Honoraria; Norvartis, BMS, Autolus, ADCT, Pharmocyclics and Jansen: Research Funding; Gilead, Beigene, Celegene, Novartis and Roche: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Lunning: AbbVie: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy; Beigene: Consultancy; ADC Therapeutics: Consultancy; Daiichi-Sankyo: Consultancy; Spectrum: Consultancy; Acrotech: Consultancy; AstraZeneca: Consultancy; Myeloid Therapeutics: Consultancy; Janssen: Consultancy; Verastem: Consultancy; Celgene, a Bristol Myers Squibb Co.: Consultancy; Kite, a Gilead Company: Consultancy; Kyowa Kirin: Consultancy; Karyopharm: Consultancy; TG Therapeutics: Consultancy; Morphosys: Consultancy; Legend: Consultancy. Hess: BMS: Speakers Bureau; ADC Therapeutics: Consultancy. Zinzani: EUSAPHARMA: Consultancy, Other, Speakers Bureau; SANDOZ: Other: Advisory board; ROCHE: Other, Speakers Bureau; MSD: Consultancy, Other: Advisory board, Speakers Bureau; NOVARTIS: Consultancy, Other, Speakers Bureau; TG Therapeutics: Other: Advisory board, Speakers Bureau; KYOWA KIRIN: Other, Speakers Bureau; TAKEDA: Other: Advisory board, Speakers Bureau; Beigene: Other, Speakers Bureau; Incyte: Other, Speakers Bureau; ADC Therap.: Other; SERVIER: Other: Advisory board, Speakers Bureau; BMS: Other: Advisory board, Speakers Bureau; JANSSEN-CILAG: Other: Advisory board, Speakers Bureau; GILEAD: Other: Advisory board, Speakers Bureau; CELLTRION: Other: Advisory board, Speakers Bureau; VERASTEM: Consultancy, Other: Advisory board, Speakers Bureau. Stathis: Abbvie and PharmaMar: Other: travel grant; Pfizer, ADC Therapeutics, Bayer, Roche, Merck, Novartis, MEI Therapeutics and Abbvie: Research Funding; Bayer / Eli Lilly: Consultancy. Carlo-Stella: Sanofi: Consultancy, Research Funding; Roche: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; ADC Therapeutics: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; AstraZeneca: Honoraria; Bristol-Myers Squibb: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Incyte: Honoraria; Janssen Oncology: Honoraria; Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Karyopharm Therapeutics: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Hamadani: Sanofi, Genzyme, AstraZeneca, BeiGene: Speakers Bureau; Janssen, Incyte, ADC Therapeutics, Omeros, Morphosys, Kite: Consultancy; Takeda, Spectrum Pharmaceuticals and Astellas Pharma: Research Funding. Kahl: AbbVie, Acerta, ADCT, AstraZeneca, BeiGene, Genentech: Research Funding; AbbVie, Adaptive, ADCT, AstraZeneca, Bayer, BeiGene, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, Genentech, Incyte, Janssen, Karyopharm, Kite, MEI, Pharmacyclics, Roche, TG Therapeutics, and Teva: Consultancy. Ungar: ADC Therapeutics: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Kilavuz: ADC Therapeutics: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Yu: ADC Therapeutics: Current Employment. Qin: ADC Therapeutics: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Caimi: TG Therapeutics: Honoraria; Amgen Therapeutics.: Consultancy; XaTek: Patents & Royalties: Royalties from patents (wife); ADC Theraputics: Consultancy, Research Funding; Seattle Genetics: Consultancy; Verastem: Consultancy; Genentech: Research Funding; Kite Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy.