Othman Al-Sawaf: The primary analysis of the RT1 study just went online at Nature Medicine

Othman Al-Sawaf, haematologist and medical oncologist at the University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany, shared a post on X/Twitter:

“Parallel to a fantastic CLL session ASH23, the primary analysis of the RT1 study just went online Nature Medicine High efficacy + tolerability of combined PD1+BTK inhibition with tislelizumab+zanubrutinib in patients with Richter-Transformation

RT is one of the most devastating conditions in CLL, defined by a transformation to an aggressive DLBCL (or Hodgkin’s) with a poor prognosis. DLBCL-RT has a median OS of 3-10 months.

Recent papers by Erin Parry and Ferran Nadeu presented a detailed landscape of the genomic heterogeneity of RT that makes effective therapy challenging and treatment responses low.

Previous monocentric studies, e.g. by Nitin Jain and others, suggested a possible efficacy of PD1 and BTK inhibitors in CLL.

We conducted an international multi-center phase-2 study to explore the ORR of tislelizumab, a PD1 inhibitor, and zanubrutinib, a next-gen BTK inhibitor, in patients with treatment-naive RT or up to one prior line of treatment.

Cardiovascular or immune-related AEs were very rare, most toxicity was related to grade 1-3 haem tox or grade 1-2 GI disorders.

The primary endpoint was met with an ORR of 58% and a CR rate of 19%.

Median PFS was 10 months and median OS not reached, with 1-year OS 75% (!!)

Detailed translational studies to identify predictors of response and survival are ongoing and we look forward to sharing those data soon!

We are grateful to patients&caregiver for the trust in our work. We thank our supporters at BeiGene and DFG public for providing study drugs+funding. Many thanks to Saheli Sadanand and editorial team& reviewers for the guidance through a meticulous and efficient review of our work.”

For the article click here.
Source: Othman Al-Sawaf/X