Dr. Bannerji on the Clinical Activity of the Bispecific Antibody REGN1979 in NHL

Rajat Bannerji, MD, PhD, hematologist/oncologist and chief of hematologic malignancies at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, discusses the clinical activity of the bispecific antibody REGN1979 in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).

Phase I safety and efficacy data regarding the human anti-CD20 x anti-CD3 bispecific IgG4 antibody were presented at the 2019 ASH Annual Meeting. Among the 22 patients with relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma who received ≥5 mg of REGN1979, the overall response rate (ORR) was 95.5%, and the complete remission (CR) rate was 77.3%. At a median follow-up of 6.8 months, the median progression-free survival was 11.4 months in the relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma cohort.

Among a subset of patients with relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma who received ≥80 mg of REGN1979, the ORR rate was 57.9% and the CR rate was 42.1%. When broken down by prior CAR T-cell exposure, the ORR was 71.4% and the CR rate was 100% in patients who did not receive prior CAR T-cell therapy. In those who received prior CAR T-cell therapy, the ORR was 50% and the CR rate was 25%.

Patients with mantle cell lymphoma and marginal zone lymphoma were also included in the trial and experienced an ORR and CR rate of 67% and 33%, respectively.