Site Editors
Shaji K. Kumar, MD
Prashant Kapoor, MD, FACP
Shaji K. Kumar, MD
Prashant Kapoor, MD, FACP
Posted: Monday, July 31, 2023
Based on patients’ responses to monotherapy with the antibody-drug conjugate targeting B-cell maturation antigen belantamab mafodotin in the DREAMM-2 trial, the DREAMM-3 trial aimed to expand upon these findings by comparing belantamab mafodotin alone with the standard-of-care combination therapy of pomalidomide and low-dose dexamethasone (Pd). According to a presentation given at the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting (Abstract 8007), belantamab mafodotin did not show superiority to the doublet in terms of progression-free survival. However, “median progression-free survival was longer for belantamab mafodotin monotherapy, and it induced deeper, more durable responses than Pd,” explained Katja Weisel, MD, of the University Medical Center of Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany, and colleagues.
A total of 325 patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma were recruited for the study. All patients were randomly assigned to receive treatment with 2.5 mg/kg of belantamab mafodotin every 3 weeks or Pd (4 mg of pomalidomide on days 1 through 21 of the 28-day cycle and 40 mg of dexamethasone weekly).
Although not statistically significant, the median progression-free survival was longer for patients receiving belantamab mafodotin (11.2 months) than Pd (7.0 months). The overall response rate to treatment was also increased in patients receiving belantamab mafodotin (41.0%) compared with Pd (36.0%). In addition, the median progression-free survival was 18.7 months with belantamab mafodotin and 12.7 months with Pd at the 12-month interval. Moreover, although overall survival data were not yet mature at this analysis, the median overall survival was similar between the two groups (21.2 vs. 21.1 months with belantamab mafodotin and Pd; hazard ratio = 1.14). Furthermore, grade 3 or 4 treatment-related adverse events were reported in 76% of patients receiving belantamab mafodotin and 70% of patients receiving Pd.
Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit coi.asco.org.
