Epcoritamab (TEPKINLY®) Receives Positive CHMP Opinion for the
Treatment of Adults with Relapsed/ Refractory Follicular Lymphoma
Company Announcement
- Positive CHMP opinion based on results from the Phase
1/2 EPCORE® NHL-1
study
- FL is the second most common type of NHL and accounts
for approximately 20-30 percent of all global cases
- If approved, epcoritamab
(TEPKINLY®) would become the
first and only bispecific antibody conditionally approved as a
monotherapy in the European Union to treat both relapsed or
refractory (R/R) follicular lymphoma (FL) and R/R diffuse large
B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), after two or more lines of systemic
therapy
COPENHAGEN, Denmark; June 28, 2024 –
Genmab A/S (Nasdaq: GMAB) today
announced that the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) Committee for
Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has adopted a positive
opinion recommending the granting of conditional marketing
authorization of epcoritamab (TEPKINLY®), a T-cell engaging
bispecific antibody administered subcutaneously, as a monotherapy
for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory
(R/R) follicular lymphoma (FL) after two or more lines of systemic
therapy. The final European Commission decision on this indication
for epcoritamab is anticipated later this year.
“Many people living with follicular lymphoma that has either
relapsed or is refractory to existing therapies experience
significant treatment challenges with poor prognosis,” said Jan van
de Winkel, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Genmab. “This positive
opinion recognizes the unmet need in the European Union for
patients whose follicular lymphoma is considered difficult-to-treat
and that epcoritamab may represent a new therapeutic option.”
The CHMP opinion is supported by overall and complete response
data from the Phase 1/2 EPCORE® NHL-1 clinical
trial in 128 patients with R/R FL treated with epcoritamab after
two or more lines of systemic therapy. The study included patients
who were refractory to both anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody therapy
and an alkylating agent, patients who were refractory to last prior
treatment, and patients whose disease progressed within two years
of first systemic therapy. In the trial, the most common (≥10%)
adverse reactions were CRS, injection site reactions, pyrexia,
neutropenia, anemia, thrombocytopenia, diarrhea, nausea, headache,
upper respiratory tract infection, pneumonia, and
rash.
An additional cohort of 86 patients evaluated an optimized
step-up dosing (SUD) schedule to reduce the incidence and severity
of cytokine release syndrome (CRS), which is an associated side
effect from immune-engaging cancer treatments. Hospitalization was
not mandatory in the optimization cohort. The incidence of CRS was
49% (42 of 86 patients; 9% were grade 2) and there were no grade 3
or higher CRS events in the optimization cohort. The EPCORE NHL-1
results, including results from the optimization cohort, were
recently published in the Lancet Haematology. Additionally, data
from the optimization cohort were presented at the 2024 American
Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, selected to be
a part of Best of ASCO® (July 19-20, Boston, MA), and were
presented at the 2024 European Hematology Association (EHA)
Congress.
“Each year, thousands of people in Europe are diagnosed with
follicular lymphoma and it’s an upsetting reality that many of them
will experience relapse and refractory disease,” said Catherine
Thieblemont, M.D., Ph.D., head of the hemato-oncology department,
Paris University, Hôpital Saint-Louis
Assistance-Publique-Hopitaux de Paris (APHP) in Paris.
“Patients deserve new treatment options, and this positive opinion
is the first step to bringing epcoritamab to more patients who need
it.”
About the EPCORE®
NHL-1 Trial EPCORE® NHL-1 is an
open-label, multi-center safety and preliminary efficacy trial of
epcoritamab that consists of three parts: a dose escalation part;
an expansion part; and an optimization part. The trial was designed
to evaluate subcutaneous epcoritamab in patients with relapsed or
refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (B-NHL), including FL. In
the expansion part, additional patients were enrolled to further
explore the safety and efficacy of epcoritamab in three cohorts of
patients with different types of relapsed/refractory B-NHLs who
have limited therapeutic options. The expansion part generated
pivotal data from patients with FL and DLBCL. The optimization part
evaluated additional CRS mitigation strategies during cycle 1. The
primary endpoint of the expansion part was overall response rate
(ORR) as assessed by an Independent Review Committee (IRC).
Secondary efficacy endpoints included duration of response,
complete response rate, duration of complete response,
progression-free survival, and time to response as determined by
the Lugano criteria. Overall survival, time to next therapy, and
rate of minimal residual disease negativity were also evaluated as
secondary efficacy endpoints. The primary endpoint of the
optimization part was the rate of ≥ Grade 2 CRS events and all
grade CRS events from first dose of epcoritamab through 7 days
following administration of the second full dose of
epcoritamab.
About Follicular Lymphoma (FL)FL is typically
an indolent (or slow-growing) form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL)
that arises from B-lymphocytes.i Although FL is an indolent
lymphoma, it is considered incurable with conventional therapy and
patients who achieve remission also often experience
relapse.iii,iv,ii Generally, with each relapse, the
remission and time to next treatment is shorter.iii,iv
About EpcoritamabEpcoritamab is an
IgG1-bispecific antibody created using Genmab's proprietary
DuoBody® technology and administered subcutaneously. Genmab's
DuoBody-CD3 technology is designed to direct cytotoxic T cells
selectively to elicit an immune response toward target cell types.
Epcoritamab is designed to simultaneously bind to CD3 on T cells
and CD20 on B cells and induces T-cell-mediated killing of CD20+
cells.v
Epcoritamab (approved under the brand name EPKINLY in the U.S.
and Japan, and TEPKINLY in the EU) has received regulatory approval
in certain lymphoma indications in several territories. Epcoritamab
is being co-developed by Genmab and AbbVie as part of the
companies' oncology collaboration. The companies will share
commercial responsibilities in the U.S. and Japan, with AbbVie
responsible for further global commercialization. Both companies
will pursue additional international regulatory approvals for the
investigational R/R FL indication and additional approvals for the
R/R DLBCL indication.
Genmab and AbbVie continue to evaluate the use of epcoritamab as
a monotherapy, and in combination, across lines of therapy in a
range of hematologic malignancies. This includes four ongoing Phase
3, open-label, randomized trials including a trial evaluating
epcoritamab as a monotherapy in patients with R/R DLBCL compared to
investigators choice chemotherapy (NCT04628494), a trial evaluating
epcoritamab in combination with R-CHOP in adult participants with
newly diagnosed DLBCL (NCT05578976), a trial evaluating epcoritamab
in combination with rituximab and lenalidomide (R2) in patients
with R/R FL (NCT05409066), and a trial evaluating epcoritamab in
combination with rituximab and lenalidomide (R2) compared to
chemoimmunotherapy in patients with previously untreated FL
(NCT06191744). The safety and efficacy of epcoritamab has not been
established for these investigational uses. Please visit
www.clinicaltrials.gov for more information.
About Genmab Genmab is an international
biotechnology company with a core purpose of guiding its
unstoppable team to strive toward improving the lives of patients
with innovative and differentiated antibody therapeutics. For 25
years, its passionate, innovative and collaborative team has
invented next-generation antibody technology platforms and
leveraged translational, quantitative and data sciences, resulting
in a proprietary pipeline including bispecific T-cell engagers,
antibody-drug conjugates, next-generation immune checkpoint
modulators and effector function-enhanced antibodies. By 2030,
Genmab’s vision is to transform the lives of people with cancer and
other serious diseases with knock-your-socks-off (KYSO®) antibody
medicines.
Established in 1999, Genmab is headquartered in Copenhagen,
Denmark, with international presence across North America, Europe
and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit Genmab.com and
follow us on LinkedIn and X.
Contact: Marisol
Peron, Senior Vice President, Global Communications & Corporate
AffairsT: +1 609 524 0065; E: mmp@genmab.com
Andrew Carlsen, Vice President, Head of Investor RelationsT: +45
3377 9558; E: acn@genmab.comThis Media Release contains forward
looking statements. The words “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,”
“intend” and “plan” and similar expressions identify forward
looking statements. Actual results or performance may differ
materially from any future results or performance expressed or
implied by such statements. The important factors that could cause
our actual results or performance to differ materially include,
among others, risks associated with pre-clinical and clinical
development of products, uncertainties related to the outcome and
conduct of clinical trials including unforeseen safety issues,
uncertainties related to product manufacturing, the lack of market
acceptance of our products, our inability to manage growth, the
competitive environment in relation to our business area and
markets, our inability to attract and retain suitably qualified
personnel, the unenforceability or lack of protection of our
patents and proprietary rights, our relationships with affiliated
entities, changes and developments in technology which may render
our products or technologies obsolete, and other factors. For a
further discussion of these risks, please refer to the risk
management sections in Genmab’s most recent financial reports,
which are available on www.genmab.com and the risk factors included
in Genmab’s most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F and other
filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC),
which are available at www.sec.gov. Genmab does not undertake any
obligation to update or revise forward looking statements in this
Media Release nor to confirm such statements to reflect subsequent
events or circumstances after the date made or in relation to
actual results, unless required by law.
Genmab A/S and/or its subsidiaries own the following trademarks:
Genmab®; the Y-shaped Genmab logo®; Genmab in combination with the
Y-shaped Genmab logo®; HuMax®; DuoBody®; HexaBody®; DuoHexaBody®,
HexElect® and KYSO™. EPCORE®,
EPKINLY®, TEPKINLY® and their
designs are trademarks of AbbVie Biotechnology Ltd.
i Lymphoma Research Foundation official website.
https://lymphoma.org/aboutlymphoma/nhl/fl/. Accessed February
2024.ii Lymphoma Research Foundation official website.
https://lymphoma.org/understanding-lymphoma/aboutlymphoma/nhl/follicular-lymphoma/relapsedfl/.
Accessed February 2024.iii Rivas‐Delgado, A., Magnano, L.,
Moreno‐Velázquez, et al. Response duration and survival shorten
after each relapse in patients with follicular lymphoma treated in
the rituximab era. Br J Haematol. 2018;184(5):753-759.
doi:10.1111/bjh.15708iv Kuruvilla J, Ewara EM, Elia-Pacitti J, et
al. Estimating the Burden of Illness of Relapsed Follicular
Lymphoma and Marginal Zone Lymphoma in Ontario, Canada. Curr
Oncol. 2023;30(5):4663-4676. doi:10.3390/curroncol30050352v
Engelberts PJ, Hiemstra IH, de Jong B, et al. DuoBody-CD3xCD20
induces potent T-cell-mediated killing of malignant B cells in
preclinical models and provides opportunities for subcutaneous
dosing. EBioMedicine. 2020;52:102625. doi:
10.1016/j.ebiom.2019.102625.
Company Announcement no. 49 CVR no. 2102 3884 LEI Code
529900MTJPDPE4MHJ122
Genmab A/SCarl Jacobsens Vej 302500 Valby Denmark
- 280624_CA49_Genmab FL CHMP Opinion
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