Jason Westin, MD, FASCP, on Evaluating Axi-cel Against SOC Therapy in Large B-cell Lymphoma

“The axi-cel arm on the ZUMA-7 clinical trial showed that more patients live longer if they receive axi-cel as a second-line treatment.... Over the past few years there has been a debate: is second-line CAR T-cell the preferred approach or should you try chemo in second-line [and] if it doesn't work, then use CAR T-cell as a backup? On our trial, we showed definitively that CAR T-cell as second-line is the preferred approach...”

Kite’s axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel), a CD19-directed chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy, is currently FDA-approved for third-line and second-line indications in large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL). Following its commercialization, it has continued to be evaluated against standard of care (SOC) therapy in the ZUMA-7 clinical trial (NCT03391466).

Jason Westin, MD, FASCP, the director of the Lymphoma Clinical Research Program at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, gave a presentation entitled “Primary overall survival analysis of the phase 3 randomized ZUMA‑7 study of axicabtagene ciloleucel versus standard‑of‑care therapy in relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma” at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2023 Annual Meeting, held June 2-6, in Chicago, Illinois. The data he presented included the finding that axi-cel demonstrated an improvement in overall survival (OS) against SOC therapy.

In an interview with CGTLive™’s sister publication OncLive™, Westin discussed the results he presented and their implications for the treatment landscape in LBCL. In addition to the OS results, Westin also discussed the complete response (CR) rates seen in ZUMA-7, noting that the axi-cel arm showed a CR rate that was nearly double that of the SOC arm. He additionally mentioned that the safety profile of axi-cel in ZUMA-7 was consistent with earlier studies and briefly touched on the potential of bringing axi-cel to the first-line setting in LBCL in light of the positive efficacy results seen so far.

Click here for more coverage of ASCO 2023.

REFERENCE
Westin J, Oluwole OO, Kersten MJ, et al. Primary overall survival analysis of the phase 3 randomized ZUMA‑7 study of axicabtagene ciloleucel versus standard‑of‑care therapy in relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma. Presented at: the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2023 Annual Meeting, held June 2-6, in Chicago, Illinois. Abstract #LBA107