AstraZeneca Plc. (AZN.L) announced that findings from the ECHO Phase III trial revealed that its drug Calquence (acalabrutinib), when combined with bendamustine and rituximab, significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) and indicated a positive trend in overall survival (OS) compared to the standard chemoimmunotherapy regimen (bendamustine plus rituximab) for previously untreated patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).
The trial results highlighted that the Calquence combination regimen reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 27% relative to the standard chemoimmunotherapy. The median PFS for patients treated with the Calquence combination was 66.4 months, compared to 49.6 months for those receiving standard chemoimmunotherapy.
While the secondary endpoint of overall survival showed a favorable trend for the Calquence combination, indicating additional clinical benefit, the overall survival data remain immature. Therefore, the trial will continue to assess overall survival as a key secondary endpoint.
Additionally, the ongoing Phase I, dose-escalation trial of AZD0486, a novel CD19xCD3 T cell engager, demonstrated durable responses in patients with heavily pretreated relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma, with a median follow-up of 11 months. Complete response rates of 84% were observed at AZD0486 doses of 2.4 mg and higher. The data also revealed that cytokine release syndrome (CRS) events were effectively managed using a double step-up dosing schedule, and no cases of immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS) were reported.
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