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EHA 2025 | Recent developments in the treatment of Richter’s transformation
Adam Kittai, MD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, comments on the recent developments in the treatment of Richter’s transformation. Dr Kittai highlights promising data from trials on the use of venetoclax plus R-CHOP and tislelizumab plus zanubrutinib, as well as the potential of bispecific antibodies. This interview took place at the 30th Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA) in Milan, Italy.
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Transcript
There are a few trials currently underway that I think are pretty exciting about Richter’s transformation. For one, we’re getting an update of the venetoclax plus R-CHOP regimen from Matthew Davids at the summer conferences and I’m excited to see that data being presented. And I think what I like about this particular study in general is that most patients can get access to R-CHOP for sure and also venetoclax for Richter transformation because we can usually give the venetoclax for the underlying CLL...
There are a few trials currently underway that I think are pretty exciting about Richter’s transformation. For one, we’re getting an update of the venetoclax plus R-CHOP regimen from Matthew Davids at the summer conferences and I’m excited to see that data being presented. And I think what I like about this particular study in general is that most patients can get access to R-CHOP for sure and also venetoclax for Richter transformation because we can usually give the venetoclax for the underlying CLL. So I think that this regimen is a great regimen because it is something that is immediately available to our patients in the clinic at most places. Other data that I’ve been really excited about is the tislelizumab plus zanubrutinib data that was presented by Dr Alsawaf and also reported. This combination has now been added to the NCCN guidelines which also means that it could be reimbursable for patients’ insurance so that’s another line of therapy that we can use for our patients with Richter transformation. The last thing that I’m excited about moving forward is the concept of using bispecific antibodies for patients with Richter transformation. There’s been some good data looking at epcoritamab for Richter transformation and I suspect that as bispecifics become more available for patients with Richter’s and are studied for patients with Richter’s just like they were for aggressive B-cell lymphoma that we will continue to see good outcomes, hopefully, with bispecific antibodies as well. At the end of the day, though, there aren’t enough trials for patients with Richter’s transformation. It continues to be a rare phenomenon, which makes it difficult to enroll. Additionally, these patients do not do great, which makes them hard to enroll onto clinical trials. So I would encourage all of my colleagues and everybody out there to continue to think about unique ways of bringing unique therapies to our patients with Richter transformation.
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