Leaked data showed that Pfizer’s mevrometostat has strong therapeutic potential in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, while recent readouts also position the pharma as a strong contender in colorectal cancer and bladder cancer.
Pfizer on Wednesday nabbed another approval for its antibody-drug conjugate Adcetris, which the FDA cleared for the treatment of certain non-Hodgkin lymphomas.
The label expansion covers the use of Adcetris with lenalidomide and rituximab after at least two lines of systemic therapy in certain patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma. These indications include diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) not otherwise specified, DLBCL arising from indolent lymphoma and high-grade B-cell lymphoma.
To qualify for Acetris, patients should not be eligible for autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation or CAR T therapy, as per Wednesday’s release.
“More than 3,500 patients in the U.S. with this aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma experience treatment failure or relapse after two prior lines of therapy” each year, Pfizer’s chief oncology officer Roger Dansey said in a statement.
Adcetris’ expansion into this indication underlines its role “as an existing standard of care with overall survival improvement shown for certain types of lymphomas,” Dansey continued, adding that the antibody-drug conjugate can now provide patients and physicians with an alternative to CAR T therapies and chemotherapy for LBCL treatment.
Pfizer established the efficacy and safety of Adcetris in DLBCL via the Phase III ECHELON-3 study, which found that Adcetris plus lenalidomide and ritxumab lowered the risk of death by 37% versus placebo in patients with relapsed or refractory disease. The drug also led to improvements in overall response rate and progression-free survival.
Wednesday’s label expansion brings Adcetris’ total number of indications up to eight. The antibody-drug conjugate is also approved for various types of anaplastic large cell lymphoma, peripheral T-cell lymphoma and classical Hodgkin lymphoma.
Pfizer has been on a winning streak in cancer recently. Earlier this week, leaked Phase I data set to be presented at the ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium showed that its investigational EZH2 blocker mevrometostat, when used with standard hormone therapy, could reduce disease progression rates by half in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.
Last week, the pharma announced that Braftovi significantly boosted survival in the Phase III BREAKWATER study in colorectal cancer, opening up a path for the kinase inhibitor’s full approval.
Last month, Pfizer also revealed that its PD-1 candidate sasanlimab—when combined with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) immunotherapy—could elicit “clinically meaningful and statistically significant” improvement in event-free survival among patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer, as compared with BCG alone.
