Genmab (Nasdaq: GMAB) and AbbVie reported that adding epcoritamab to R-CHOP chemotherapy reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 51% in newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in the Phase III EPCORE DLBCL-2 trial.
The trial met its primary endpoint of progression-free survival in patients with International Prognostic Index (IPI) scores of 3–5 (HR 0.49; 95% CI 0.35–0.69; p<0.0001). The broader population with IPI scores of 2–5 also showed a 51% risk reduction (HR 0.49; 95% CI 0.36–0.67; p<0.0001).
Epcoritamab is a subcutaneous CD3×CD20 bispecific antibody that redirects T cells to kill malignant B cells. The companies said the combination’s safety profile was consistent with the established profiles of the individual treatments.
The results position epcoritamab as a potential addition to frontline DLBCL treatment, where Roche’s Polivy (polatuzumab vedotin), a CD79b-directed antibody–drug conjugate, is already approved with R-CHP for patients with IPI scores of at least 2. EPCORE DLBCL-2 compared the epcoritamab combination with R-CHOP and therefore does not establish how it performs against the Polivy regimen.