Dr. Costa on Safety of CC-93269 in Relapsed/Refractory Myeloma

Luciano J. Costa, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine in the Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Cell Therapy Program of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, discusses interim data with CC-93269 in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

In this phase 1 dose-finding study (NCT03486067), investigators assessed the safety and tolerability of CC-93269 and set out to define the maximum-tolerated dose, non-tolerated dose, and/or recommended dose in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

Among the 30 patients who received CC-93269, the majority experienced grade 1 or 2 adverse events (AEs), says Costa. The most common AEs that were grade 3in severity were hematologic, such as neutropenia. Although these events were found to improve following treatment with growth factor. Additionally, anemia was also reported; this event is commonly reported in patients with multiple myeloma, adds Costa.

The AE of special interest was cytokine release syndrome (CRS), says Costa. This systematic inflammatory response occurred in about three-fourths of patients, particularly in those who were receiving higher doses of CC-93269. Different from what is typically seen from CAR T-cells, CRS manifests very early in the treatment process, is short lived, and rarely goes beyond grade 2, says Costa. Unfortunately, 1 patient who was receiving 6 mg of CC-93269 as first dose and 10 mg of C1D8 died because of CRS; however,the patient had multiple contributing factors, including concomitant infection, notes Costa.

Additionally, another AE of interest was infection. In this study, 30% of the patients expressed grade 3 or higher infection, Costa concludes.