ELOQUENT-2 Trial: Long-Term Benefits of Triplet Therapy in Multiple Myeloma
Posted: Monday, November 12, 2018
Based on the extended follow-up from the phase III ELOQUENT-2 trial, the triple therapy consisting of elotuzumab plus lenalidomide and dexamethasone continued to provide benefits for patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma compared with lenalidomide and dexamethasone alone. The authors of the phase III ELOQUENT-2 trial observed a sustained improvement in progression-free survival and safety among recipients of the triplet therapy. These findings were published in Cancer.
“These data at 4-year follow-up [are] particularly notable, as they suggest the ability of this immuno-oncology agent to build a sustainable immune response in some patients with advanced multiple myeloma,” Meletios A. Dimopoulos, MD, of the University of Athens School of Medicine, Greece, stated in a recent press release.
Of the 646 patients with relapsed or recurrent multiple myeloma in the trial, 635 were randomly assigned to receive elotuzumab plus lenalidomide and dexamethasone (n = 319) or lenalidomide and dexamethasone alone (n = 316). Eligible patients had one to three prior therapies.
Treatment with elotuzumab reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 29% compared with lenalidomide and dexamethasone. However, according to the authors, “the greatest [progression-free survival] benefit among the assessed subgroups was observed in patients at the median time or further from diagnosis (≥ 3.5 years) with 1 prior line of therapy, who had a 44% reduction in the risk of progression/death and in patients in the high-risk category, who had a 36% reduction in favor of [the elotuzumab combination therapy].” In addition, the relative progression-free survival benefit with the elotuzumab triplet therapy “was maintained beyond 50 months.”
The rates of adverse events were similar between the two cohorts. The most common toxicities in both groups included diarrhea, fatigue, pyrexia, constipation, neutropenia, cough, back pain, and muscle spasm.
