European Hematology Association: Answering the Unmet Need in One of the Most Common Types of Lymphoma: It's as Simple as A-D-C

STOCKHOLM, June 16, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Unfortunately, 40% of patients will relapse after or not respond to initial treatment resulting in poor outcomes especially if stem cell transplant is not an option. Developing effective treatment options for such patients is an area of high unmet need.

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Polatuzumab vedotin is an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targeting CD79b, a protein expressed in DLBCL.  Polatuzumab vedotin combined with the chemotherapy bendamustine and monoclonal antibody rituximab (pola-BR) demonstrated improvements in treatment response and reduced the risk of disease progression and death in patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) DLBCL compared to treatment with BR alone. At the end of treatment, 40% of patients receiving pola-BR achieved a complete response compared to 15% of patients treated with BR.  Additionally, median progression free survival tripled (6.7 vs. 2.0 months, HR 0.31) and overall survival more than doubled (11.8 vs. 4.7 months, HR 0.35) in patients treated with pola-BR versus BR alone.

Based on these results, polatuzumab vedotin has been granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation by the US Food and Drug Administration and PRIME (PRIority MEdicines) designation by the European Medicines Agency for R/R DLBCL.

Presenter:  Dr Laurie H. Sehn

Affiliation:  BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, Canada

Topic:  ADDING POLATUZUMAB VEDOTIN (POLA) TO BENDAMUSTINE AND RITUXIMAB (BR) TREATMENT IMPROVES SURVIVAL IN PATIENTS WITH RELAPSED/REFRACTORY DLBCL: RESULTS OF A PHASE 2 CLINICAL TRIAL

Abstract S802 will be presented by Laurie H. Sehn on Saturday, June 16, 12:15-12:30 in Room A1.

About the EHA Annual Congress
Every year in June, EHA organizes its Annual Congress in a major European city. After five years, the congress returns to Stockholm. The Congress is aimed at health professionals working in or interested in the field of hematology.

The scientific program topics range from stem cell physiology and development, to leukemia; lymphoma; diagnosis and treatment; red blood cells; white blood cells and platelet disorders; hemophilia and myeloma; thrombosis and bleeding disorders as well as transfusion and stem cell transplantation.

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