Dr. Abramson Discusses TRANSCEND in Relapsed/Refractory B-Cell Lymphomas

Jeremy Slade Abramson, MD, clinical director, Center for Lymphoma, Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses the updated results of the TRANSCEND study in patients with relapsed/refractory b-cell lymphoma.

In the trial, 102 patients were treated with lisocabtagene maraleucel (JCAR017; liso-cel). Abramson states that every patient reached the 6-month time point or beyond, so physicians have mature and exciting data. In the entire patient population, researchers are finding an overall response rate of 75% with a complete remission rate of 55%. These are heavily pretreated patients, states Abramson. All patients had at least 2 prior lines of therapy.

Of these high-risk patients, 70% have chemotherapy-refractory disease, 20% have double-hit lymphoma, about half of patients have never achieved a complete remission, and 40% have had a prior stem cell transplant, most of which were autologous.

This compares favorably to any other conventional therapy, but the most important question is durability of remissions in large-cell lymphoma. There was a high proportion of durable remissions, says Abramson. Forty percent of patients are responding 6 months later.