A New Antibody For Treating Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia?
Of all the drugs being discussed at this year’s meeting of the American Society of Hematology, one caught my attention. The new agent, a monoclonal antibody to CD22 with a toxin attached, is manufactured by Pfizer. It’s called inotuzumab ozogamicin. As that’s a mouthful, some doctors call it Ino.
Last summer the NEJM published favorable results of a randomized, multinational trial of inotuzumab in a few hundred adults with refractory or relapsed B-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). In that INO-VATE study, inotuzumab as a single agent led to prolonged complete remissions and slightly extended overall survival, compared to standard chemotherapy. Remissions were significantly “deeper,” with minimal residual disease (< 0.01% blasts in the bone marrow) achieved in 78% patients of those in remission after receiving the experimental antibody.
Last summer the NEJM published favorable results of a randomized, multinational trial of inotuzumab in a few hundred adults with refractory or relapsed B-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). In that INO-VATE study, inotuzumab as a single agent led to prolonged complete remissions and slightly extended overall survival, compared to standard chemotherapy. Remissions were significantly “deeper,” with minimal residual disease (< 0.01% blasts in the bone marrow) achieved in 78% patients of those in remission after receiving the experimental antibody.