ASH 2020: New data for Tecartus show durable response in MCL

US biotech major Gilead Sciences’ (Nasdaq: GILD) subsidiary Kite today announced follow-up results from the pivotal ZUMA-2 trial of Tecartus (brexucabtagene autoleucel, formerly KTE-X19) in adult patients with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), at the 62nd ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition.

At a median follow-up of 17.5 months (n=60 evaluable for efficacy), 92% of patients had achieved a response, including 67% with a complete response (CR). Secondary endpoints of median duration of response, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) all were not yet reached.

“Patients with mantle cell lymphoma face a disease that often becomes more aggressive over time and nearly always relapses after initial therapy,” said Dr Michael Wang, Puddin Clarke Endowed Professor, Department of Lymphoma and Myeloma at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. “Many patients with relapsed or refractory MCL will have high-risk disease that is more likely to keep progressing after treatment, so our goal with any therapy is to provide durable remission. With more than half of the patients in the ZUMA-2 trial still alive at nearly one and a half years after infusion, these results reinforce brexucabtagene autoleucel’s potential to address the gap in existing treatment,” he noted.