Elotuzumab Combination Therapy for Relapsed or Refractory Myeloma
Posted: Thursday, August 31, 2017
Patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who received a combination treatment of elotuzumab plus lenalidomide and dexamethasone had a 27% reduction in the risk of disease progression and death and an improved trend in overall survival compared with those who received lenalidomide and dexamethasone alone. This extended 4-year follow-up study has the longest median follow-up of an immuno-oncology agent in multiple myeloma, according to Meletios A. Dimopoulos, MD, of the University of Athens School of Medicine, Greece, who presented these findings at the 22nd Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA) in Madrid (Abstract S456).
A total of 646 patients were randomized to receive either the elotuzumab combination (n=321) or lenalidomide/dexamethasone (n=325). At 4-year follow-up, nearly twice as many patients remained on the triple therapy versus the doublet therapy (17% vs. 9%). Patients treated with elotuzumab demonstrated a 50% improvement in progression-free survival compared with those who were not (21% vs. 14%). Additionally, the elotuzumab group maintained a 29% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death.
In patients from both groups, there were no significant differences in grade 3/4 adverse events, including vascular diseases (10% vs. 8%), second primary malignancies (9% vs. 6%), and cardiac disorders (5% vs. 8%). Although disease progression and infection were major causes of death in both groups, fewer deaths were reported with elotuzumab therapy.
“Overall, these data continue to support the durable efficacy of elotuzumab plus lenalidomide/dexamethasone,” concluded the investigators.
