AbbVie blood cancer drug combo cuts risk of progression or death in late-stage study

Oct 5 — Danish biotech firm Genmab and US drugmaker AbbVie said ​on Monday their combination treatment for patients newly diagnosed with a type of lymphoma reduced ‌the risk of disease progression or death in a late-stage study.

US-listed ⁠shares of Genmab were up ​about 11% in afternoon ⁠trading. AbbVie shares rose 1.5%.

• The study tested ‌epcoritamab in combination ‌with R-CHOP in newly diagnosed patients with diffuse ⁠large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), the ⁠most common form of blood cancer affecting lymph cells

• The combination reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 51% in newly diagnosed patients compared with R-CHOP alone, the companies said

• Epcoritamab, ‌jointly developed by Genmab and ​AbbVie, is an immune-based therapy that helps the body's T cells attack cancer cells, while R-CHOP is currently offered as the standard treatment for those with DLBCL

• The companies said the trial is the first late-stage study of a bispecific antibody ​combination to significantly improve progression-free survival — how long patients ‌live without ‌their ⁠cancer worsening — in first-line DLBCL

• They said the combination's safety profile was generally consistent with the known safety profiles of epcoritamab and R-CHOP

• Epcoritamab has not yet ‌been approved for ​patients who have just been ‌diagnosed and have ⁠not received ​prior treatment

(Reporting by Sahil Pandey in Bengaluru; Editing by ​Diti Pujara)

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