ADC Therapeutics halts trial of Zynlonta in DLBCL patients

Switzerland-headquartered ADC Therapeutics (NYSE: ADCT) today announced that it plans to discontinue the Phase II LOTIS-9 clinical trial evaluating Zynlonta (loncastuximab tesirine-lpyl) and rituximab (Lonca-R) in unfit or frail patients with previously untreated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).

The move follows the pause in enrollment of the study earlier this month because of deaths, after consultation with the Data Monitoring Committee, which signalled potentially excessive respiratory-related events that caused a 21% slump in the firm’s share price. The stock fell 5.7% to $1.42 on Friday.

ADC noted that, given the challenges of defining the addressable segment of the difficult-to-treat unfit or frail DLBCL patient population, including many patients with significant active underlying co-morbidities, the benefit-risk profile does not support continuation of the LOTIS-9 trial.