Evaluating loncastuximab tesirine for patients with recurrent or hard-to-treat DLBCL

This study evaluated the safety and effectiveness of loncastuximab tesirine (Zynlonta) for patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) that returned or stopped responding to treatment. This study concluded that this treatment was safe and effective for these patients.

DLBCL is one of the most common types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Typical first-line treatment involves chemoimmunotherapy. This treatment is effective for most patients. However, approximately 40% of experience relapse (cancer comes back) or stop responding to treatment (refractory). These patients need new treatment options.

Loncastuximab tesirine is an antibody therapy. This type of treatment binds to cancer cells, leading to cancer cell death. The safety and effectiveness of loncastuximab tesirine for patients with refractory or relapsed DLBCL remain under investigation.

This study included 145 patients with relapsed or refractory DLBCL. Of these, 25 patients had disease that did not respond to previous treatment. On average, patients received three prior lines of therapy. All patients in this study received loncastuximab tesirine. Patients were followed up every 12 weeks for an average of 3 years.

Overall, 70 patients (48.3%) responded to treatment. Of these, 35 patients (24.1%) had a complete response (no signs of cancer), and 35 patients (24.1%) had a partial response (tumor shrinkage). At follow-up, 57% of patients still had a complete response after treatment. On average, response lasted for 10.3 months.

Overall, patients survived an average of 9.9 months after treatment. Patients were still alive for an average of 4.9 months without tumor growth or spread. On average, patients were still alive for an average of 13.4 months without relapse.

68 patients (47%) received more treatment after loncastuximab tesirine. Of these, 15 patients had CAR T-cell therapy. Of these, 6 patients had a complete response after treatment.

Overall, 143 patients (99%) reported side effects. The most common ones were low red blood cell count (16%), low platelet count (15%), and low white blood cell count (14%). In addition, 39% of patients reported severe side effects. Of these, the most common were low white blood cells with fever (3%), low red blood cell count (1%), and chest pain (1%). 34 patients (23%) stopped treatment due to side effects.

This study concluded that loncastuximab tesirine was safe and effective for patients with relapsed or refractory DLBCL. The authors suggest that this treatment may be a new treatment option for patients who received several prior therapies.

Some of the authors of this study received funding from ADC Therapeutics, the manufacturer of loncastuximab tesirine. Loncastuximab tesirine was approved by the FDA for patients with relapsed and refractory DLBCL based on the results of this study.