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470 Phase II Study of Pembrolizumab Plus GVD As Second-Line Therapy for Relapsed or Refractory Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma

Program: Oral and Poster Abstracts
Type: Oral
Session: 624. Hodgkin Lymphoma and T/NK Cell Lymphoma—Clinical Studies: Clinical Studies in Hodgkin Lymphoma
Hematology Disease Topics & Pathways:
Diseases, Hodgkin Lymphoma, Therapies, Combinations, Lymphoid Malignancies
Sunday, December 6, 2020: 2:00 PM

Alison J. Moskowitz, MD1, Gunjan Shah, MD2*, Heiko Schöder, MD1*, Nivetha Ganesan, MPH1*, Helen Hancock, ANP1*, Theresa Davey, MMSc, PA-C1*, Samia Sohail, BA1*, Alayna Santarosa1*, Lauren Pomerantz, BS1*, Christine Jarjies, MS1*, Natasha Galasso, BA1*, Rachel Neuman1*, Anita Kumar, MD1, Oscar B Lahoud, MD3, Connie Lee Batlevi, MD, PhD1, Paul A. Hamlin, MD1, David J. Straus, MD1, Ildefonso Rodriguez-Rivera, MD1*, Colette Owens, MD1, Philip Caron, MD, PhD1, Andrew M. Intlekofer, MD, PhD1, Audrey Hamilton, MD1*, Steven M. Horwitz, MD1, Lorenzo Falchi, MD1, Erel Joffe, MD, MSc1, Maria Lia Palomba1, Ariela Noy, MD4, Matthew J Matasar, MD, MS5, Georgios Pongas, MD6, Santosha Vardhana, MD, PhD1*, Gottfried R. von Keudell, MD, PhD1, Joachim Yahalom, MD1, Andrew D Zelenetz, MD, PhD1 and Craig H. Moskowitz, MD6

1Department of Medicine, Lymphoma Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
2Department of Medicine, Adult Bone Marrow Transplant Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
3Adult Bone Marrow Transplant Service, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Brooklyn, NY
4Department of Medicine, Lymphoma Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Ctr., New York, NY
5Department of Medicine, Lymphoma Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center/New York Presbyterian, New York, NY
6Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami Health System, Miami, FL

Introduction:

The standard approach for relapsed or refractory (RR) classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) following front-line treatment failure is second line therapy (SLT) aimed to achieve complete response (CR), followed by consolidation with high dose therapy and autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (HDT/AHCT). No one standard SLT exists and options include regimens containing platinum, gemcitabine, and more recently brentuximab vedotin (BV). Complete response rates associated with these regimens range from 50-70%. Due to the increasing use of BV in the front-line setting, development of SLT regimens that are both highly effective and BV-sparing are needed. Programmed death-1 (PD-1) inhibitors are highly active in RR cHL and have the potential to enhance the efficacy of standard chemotherapy. Here we report the results of our phase II study evaluating a novel anti-PD-1-based regimen, pembrolizumab plus gemcitabine, vinorelbine, and liposomal doxorubicin (pembrolizumab-GVD), as SLT for RR cHL.

Methods:

Transplant eligible patients (pts) with RR cHL following failure of 1-line of therapy were eligible. Treatment consisted of 2 to 4 cycles of pembrolizumab (200mg IV, day 1), gemcitabine (1000mg/m2 IV, days 1 and 8), vinorelbine (20mg/m2 IV, days 1 and 8) and liposomal doxorubicin (15mg/m2, days 1 and 8), given on 21-day cycles. Pts who achieved CR by PET (Deauville ≤3) after 2 or 4 cycles proceeded to HDT/AHCT. HDT/AHCT was carried out according to institutional standards and BV maintenance was allowed following HDT/AHCT. The primary endpoint was CR rate after 2 or 4 cycles of pembrolizumab-GVD. Enrollment occurred according to a Simon 2-stage design with sample size based upon a projected CR rate of 70%. In stage 1, 23 pts enrolled and 12 or more CRs were required to proceed to stage II; in stage II, an additional 16 pts enrolled. Out of a total of 39 pts, 24 CRs were required to declare this regimen promising.

Results:

Among 39 patients enrolled, 37 are evaluable for toxicity (2 pts have not yet started treatment) and 34 are evaluable for response (4 pts too early, 1 pt found to have composite lymphoma after enrollment). Of 37 treated pts, median age is 36 (range 21-71), 43% are male, 23 (62%) had advanced stage disease, and 15 (41%) had primary refractory disease. With regard to RR cHL risk factors (B-symptoms, extranodal disease, and relapse/refractory disease within 1 year of initial treatment), 4(11%) had no risk factors (RFs), 21 (57%) had 1 RF, 9 (24%) had 2 RFs, and 3 (8%) had all 3 RFs.

Treatment was well tolerated with most adverse events being grade 1 or 2 (see figure 1). Grade 3 AEs included rash (n=1), elevated AST/ALT (n=3), oral mucositis (n=2), and neutropenia (n=3).

Figure 2 shows the outcome for all 37 treated pts. Among 34 evaluable pts, 31 (91%) achieved CR after 2 cycles and 3 achieved partial response. An additional 1 pt achieved CR after 4 cycles of pembrolizumab-GVD, therefore in total, 32 of 34 (94%) achieved CR following pembrolizumab-GVD. 4 pts with CR after 2 cycles received an additional 2 cycles of pembrolizumab-GVD in order to delay HDT/AHCT during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic (n=3) or due to refusing HDT/ASCT (n=1). To date, 32 have undergone HDT/AHCT following 2 (n=27) or 4 (n=5) cycles of treatment. 1 pt is awaiting HDT/AHCT; 1 pt refused HDT/ASCT and received pembrolizumab maintenance instead. 2 pts received involved site radiation therapy to initial area of relapsed disease prior to planned HDT/AHCT and 10 pts received post-HDT/ASCT maintenance with BV. Median follow-up post-HDT/AHCT is 9 mos (range 0.03-20.9 mos) and all pts remain in remission to date.

Conclusion:

Second-line therapy with pembrolizumab-GVD is a highly effective and well-tolerated regimen that can efficiently bridge pts with RR cHL to HDT/AHCT. Updated results including all 39 enrolled pts will be presented at the meeting. Given the high CR rate observed with pembrolizumab-GVD, an expansion cohort evaluating 8 cycles of pembrolizumab maintenance (instead of HDT/AHCT) for patients who achieve CR after 4 cycles of pembrolizumab-GVD is planned.

Disclosures: Moskowitz: Merck: Consultancy; Incyte: Research Funding; Miragen Therapeutics: Consultancy; Seattle Genetics: Consultancy; Imbrium Therapeutics, L.P.: Consultancy; Merck: Research Funding; Seattle Genetics: Research Funding; Bristol-Myers Squibb: Research Funding. Shah: Amgen Inc.: Research Funding; Janssen: Research Funding. Kumar: AbbVie: Research Funding; Celgene: Honoraria, Other: Honoraria for Advisory Board; Seattle Genetics: Research Funding; Astra Zeneca: Honoraria, Other: Honoraria for Advisory Board; Celgene: Research Funding; Kite Pharmaceuticals: Honoraria, Other: Honoraria for Advisory Board; Adaptive Biotechnologies,: Research Funding; Pharmacyclics: Research Funding. Lahoud: MorphoSys: Other: Advisory Board. Batlevi: Life Sci, GLG, Juno/Celgene, Seattle Genetics, Kite: Consultancy; Janssen, Novartis, Epizyme, Xynomics, Bayer, Autolus, Roche/Genentech: Research Funding. Hamlin: J&J Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding; Portola: Research Funding; Incyte: Research Funding; Portola Pharmaceutics: Consultancy; Juno Therapeutics: Consultancy; Karyopharm: Consultancy; Celgene: Consultancy; Molecular Templates: Research Funding. Straus: Karyopharm Therapeutics: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Imedex, Inc.: Speakers Bureau; Targeted Oncology: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; NY Lymphoma Rounds: Consultancy; Takeda Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; OncLive: Speakers Bureau; Elsevier: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: CME writer; ASH: Other: Conference in December 2019 on HL to other physicians during ASH; Seattle Genetics: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Horwitz: ASTEX: Consultancy; Verastem: Consultancy, Research Funding; Myeloid Therapeutics: Consultancy; Miragen: Consultancy; Kura Oncology: Consultancy; Janssen: Consultancy; GlaxoSmithKline: Consultancy; Daiichi Sankyo: Research Funding; C4 Therapeutics: Consultancy; Affirmed: Consultancy; Vividion Therapeutics: Consultancy; Beigene: Consultancy; Portola: Consultancy, Research Funding; Mundipharma: Consultancy; Innate Pharma: Consultancy; Corvus: Consultancy; Trillium: Consultancy, Research Funding; Seattle Genetics: Consultancy, Research Funding; Millenium/Takeda: Consultancy, Research Funding; Kyowa Hakka Kirin: Consultancy, Research Funding; Infinity/Verastem: Research Funding; Forty Seven: Consultancy, Research Funding; Celgene: Consultancy, Research Funding; Aileron: Consultancy, Research Funding; ADCT Therapeutics: Consultancy, Research Funding. Falchi: Genmab: Research Funding; Roche: Research Funding. Joffe: Epizyme: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; AstraZeneca: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Noy: Pharmacyclics: Research Funding; Pharmacyclics: Consultancy; Janssen: Consultancy; Rafael Pharma: Research Funding; NIH: Research Funding; Morphosys: Consultancy; Medscape: Consultancy; Targeted Oncology: Consultancy. Matasar: Pharmacyclics: Honoraria, Research Funding; Daiichi Sankyo: Consultancy; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria; GlaxoSmithKline: Honoraria, Research Funding; Janssen: Honoraria, Research Funding; IGM Biosciences: Research Funding; F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Juno Therapeutics: Consultancy; Bayer: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Merck: Consultancy; Genentech, Inc.: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Seattle Genetics: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Rocket Medical: Consultancy, Research Funding; Teva: Consultancy; Immunovaccine Technologies: Honoraria, Research Funding. Vardhana: Other: Other: SAV has received honoraria from Agios Pharmaceuticals and Rheos Pharmaceuticals, is an advisor for Immunai and has consulted for ADC Therapeutics. von Keudell: Genentech: Research Funding; Bayer: Research Funding; Pharmacyclics: Research Funding. Zelenetz: Novartis: Consultancy; Janssen: Consultancy; Celgene: Consultancy; Amgen: Consultancy; Adaptive Biotechnology: Consultancy; BeiGene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Roche: Research Funding; Gilead: Research Funding; Genentech/Roche: Consultancy; Gilead: Consultancy; Sandoz: Research Funding; Celgene: Research Funding; MEI Pharma: Research Funding; MorphoSys: Research Funding.

OffLabel Disclosure: Pembrolizumab as second-line therapy for Hodgkin lymphoma

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