EMN 2021 | DREAMM-2: update on belantamab mafodotin in R/R myeloma

The DREAMM-2 study was a randomized Phase II study in patients with refractory myeloma, median of six to seven prior lines of therapy. And what we’ve learned with even longer follow-up is that the benefit appears to be good for most groups of patients in this trial. And what I mean by that specifically is that with longer follow-up we see that the median duration of response, again, is close to 11 months for the 2.5 mgs per kg.

Just to put that in context, these are patients that have had a, have had six to seven prior lines of therapy. And really this DOR of 11 months puts this agent comparable to dara, carfilzomib, and pomalidomide in the context of refractory myeloma when those agents were approved years ago.

The second piece that we learned was a subset analysis that looked at patients with more than six prior lines of therapy versus patients with fewer than six prior lines of therapy. And what we saw in that subset analysis is that the response rate is pretty similar between those two groups, suggesting that this newer mechanism of action really is independent of the amount of prior exposure that a patient has had, and that more refractory or more resistant doesn’t necessarily portend a lower response rate or shorter potential clinical benefit. We also saw that patients with renal insufficiency versus no renal insufficiency appeared to do well, and that age did not appear to have a significant impact on outcomes as well.

So I think the longer follow-up really confirms what we know about this new agent. It’s clearly very active. It has a good duration of response. Partnership with an ophthalmologist or optometrist is really important in terms of reducing the long-term complications and management of dosing and dose modifications. And it can be an effective drug for patients with refractory myeloma.