REAL-LIFE EXPERIENCE WITH THE COMBINATION OF POLATUZUMAB VEDOTIN, RITUXIMAB AND BENDAMUSTINE IN AGGRESSIVE B-CELL LYMPHOMAS.

Dimou, Maria; Papageorgiou, Sotirios G; Stavroyianni, Niki; Katodritou, Eirini; Tsirogianni, Maria; Kalpadakis, Christina; Banti, Anastasia; Arapaki, Maria; Iliakis, Theodoros; Bouzani, Maria; Verrou, Eugenia; Spanoudakis, Emmanouil; Giannouli, Stavroula; Marinakis, Theodoros; Mandala, Evdokia; Mparmparousi, Despoina; Sachanas, Sotirios; Dalekou-Tsolakou, Maria; Hatzimichael, Eleftheria; Vadikolia, Chryssa; Violaki, Vasiliki; Poziopoulos, Christos; Tsirkinidis, Pantelis; Chatzileontiadou, Sofia; Vervessou, Elissavet; Ximeri, Maria; Sioni, Anastasia; Konstantinidou, Pavlina; Kyrtsonis, Marie-Christine; Siakantaris, Marina P; Angelopoulou, Maria K; Pappa, Vassiliki; Konstantopoulos, Kostas; Panayiotidis, Panayiotis; Vassilakopoulos, Theodoros P

Transplant-ineligible relapsed/refractory(rr)DLBCL patients represent an unmet medical need. Polatuzumab Vedotin(Pola), an anti-CD79b antibody-drug-conjugate(ADG), with Bendamustine-Rituximab(BR) has recently gained approval for these patients, both in the USA and Europe, based on the GO29365 phase IIb trial. Real-life data with Pola are extremely limited. We report the outcomes of 61 Greek patients, who received Pola-(B)R mainly within a compassionate use program. Treatment was given for up to six 21-day cycles. Bendamustine was omitted in 3 cases due to previous short-lived response. Fourty-nine rrDLBCL(efficacy cohort-EC) and 58 rr aggressive B-NHL(safety cohort-SC) patients received at least 1 Pola-BR cycle. Twenty-one(43%) patients of the EC responded with 12/49(25%) CR and 9/49(18%) PR as best response. Median progression-free survival, overall survival and duration of response were 4.0, 8.5, and 8.5 months respectively, while 55% of patients experienced a grade≥3 adverse event, mainly hematologic. Treatment discontinuations and death during treatment were mainly due to disease progression. Twenty-two(41%) patients received further treatment; 11/22 are still alive, including 1 after CAR-T cells, and 2 after stem cell transplantation. Our data confirm that Pola-BR is a promising treatment for rrDLBCL patients, inducing a adequate response rate with acceptable toxicity. Pola-BR could be used as bridging therapy before further consolidative treatments. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.