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Adding Polatuzumab Vedotin to R-CHP Reduces Risk of Disease Progression or Death in Newly Diagnosed DLBCL

December 20, 2021

Mid-January 2022

Treatment with polatuzumab vedotin in combination with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and prednisone (pola-R-CHP) led to a 27% reduction in the relative risk of disease progression, relapse, or death in patients with newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), compared with the current standard of care, R-CHOP. This is according to research presented as a late-breaking abstract at the 2021 ASH Annual Meeting by Hervé Tilly, MD, of Centre Henri Becquerel and University of Rouen in France.

Polatuzumab vedotin is a CD79b-targeting antibody-drug conjugate currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory DLBCL in combination with bendamustine and rituximab. Additionally, in a phase IIb/III study, pola-R-CHP showed promising first-line efficacy and safety.

To compare pola-R-CHP with R-CHOP in patients with previously untreated DLBCL, researchers enrolled 879 patients in the phase III POLARIX study. The median age was 65 years (range = 19-80). Most patients (62%) had an International Prognostic Index of 3-5.

Patients were randomized to receive either:

  • six cycles of pola-R-CHP with a vincristine placebo (n=440)
  • R-CHOP with a polatuzumab vedotin placebo (n=439)

On day 1, patients received polatuzumab vedotin 1.8mg/kg or vincristine 1.4mg/m2, intravenous (IV) rituximab 375 mg/m2, cyclophosphamide 750 mg/m2, doxorubicin 50mg/m2, and placebo. Oral prednisone 100 mg was administered once daily on days 1 through 5.

The primary endpoint of the study was investigator-assessed progression-free survival (PFS). Investigator-assessed event-free survival (EFS), independent review committee–assessed complete response (CR) rate at the end of treatment by PET-CT, disease-free survival (DFS), overall survival (OS), and safety were additional endpoints.

After a median follow-up of 28.2 months, PFS was higher in patients treated with pola-R-CHP compared with R-CHOP (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.73; 95% CI 65.8-74.6). The respective two-year PFS rates for pola-R-CHP and R-CHOP were 76.7% (95% CI 72.7-80.8) and 70.2% (95% CI 65.8-74.6).

EFS was also superior in the pola-R-CHP group compared with R-CHOP. While the PET-CT CR rate at the end of treatment was not significantly different between groups, DFS results suggested responses to pola-R-CHP were more durable. No difference in OS was observed between the two cohorts.

At data cut-off on June 28, 2021, 99 (23%) patients in the pola-R-CHP arm and 133 (30%) patients in the R-CHOP group had undergone at least one of the following subsequent anti-lymphoma therapies:

  • radiotherapy (9.3% vs. 13%)
  • stem cell transplantation (3.9% vs. 7.1%)
  • chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy (2% vs. 3.6%)

The safety profile of pola-R-CHP was comparable to that of R-CHOP. The rate of grade 3-4 adverse events (AEs) in each group was 57.7% and 57.5%, respectively. The rates of serious AEs (34% vs. 30.6%), grade 5 AEs (3% vs. 2.3%), and AEs leading to dose reduction (9.2% vs. 13%) were also similar.

Study authors reported relationships with Hoffmann-La Roche, which sponsored the study.

Reference

Tilly H, Morschhauser F, Sehn LH, et al. The POLARIX Study: Polatuzumab Vedotin with Rituximab, Cyclophosphamide, Doxorubicin, and Prednisone (pola-R-CHP) Versus Rituximab, Cyclophosphamide, Doxorubicin, Vincristine and Prednisone (R-CHOP) Therapy in Patients with Previously Untreated Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma. Abstract LBA-1. Presented at the 2021 ASH Annual Meeting, December 14, 2021.

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