Combining olverembatinib with blinatumomab appears to produce high complete molecular remission rates in patients with newly diagnosed, Philadelphia chromosome–positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia, says Elias Jabbour, MD.
Olverembatinib (HQP1351) in combination with blinatumomab (Blincyto) may become a new standard of care for patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), although additional data and longer follow-up are necessary to confirm the combination’s efficacy, Elias Jabbour, MD, said in an interview with CancerNetwork® during the 2023 American Society of Hematologic (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition.
Jabbour, a professor of Medicine in the Department of Leukemia and Division of Cancer Medicine at The University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, discussed findings from an abstract presented at ASH that highlighted the activity of olverembatinib plus blinatumomab in a small population of patients with newly diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome–positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Although Jabbour stated that he currently administers olverembatinib monotherapy to treat patients at his practice, he said that the blinatumomab/olverembatinib combination appears to be a “promising” option that may warrant consideration as a therapy in the future.
According to data from the abstract, all patients (100%; n = 13/13) who received a single cycle of blinatumomab plus olverembatinib achieved a complete remission after a median follow-up of 7 months. Additionally, investigators highlighted a complete molecular remission rate of 72.7% after 1 cycle of treatment and 90.1% after 2 cycles.
Transcript:
Olverembatinib is a very potent Tyrosine kinase inhibitor in the third generation that has shown good efficacy. There are data on the combination of vincristine plus olverembatinib, and blinatumomab [plus olverembatinib], as well. [There were] quite good responses. Of course, we need longer follow up to see if this will be a new standard of care; we do not know yet, but that is something to keep an eye on. Blinatumomab/olverembatinib is quite promising, and that is to be explored down the road.
In Philadelphia [chromosome–positive ALL], at ASH, there were data on combining olverembatinib with blinatumomab or olverembatinib with low-dose chemotherapy. All have shown very good [complete molecular remission] rates, of upward to 60% to 70%. The future [plan] is to combine olverembatinib with blinatumomab.
Zhang T, Zhu K, Zihong C, Lin R, Liu Q, Zhou H. Frontline combination of 3rd generation TKI olverembatinib and blinatumomab for Ph+/Ph-like ALL patients. Blood. 2023;142(suppl 1):1504. doi:10.1182/blood-2023-186139