Dr. Woyach on Phase II Trial of MOR208 Trial in CLL

Jennifer A. Woyach, MD, an associate professor of Medicine in the Division of Internal Medicine at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses a phase II trial of the CD19-directed antibody MOR208 in combination with lenalidomide (Revlimid) or ibrutinib (Imbruvica) in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

MOR208 is clinically engineered to improve Fc-gamma receptor binding, Woyach explains. Prior phase I findings demonstrated that the novel agent has efficacy in CLL and is also safe. In the phase II trial, researchers combined MOR208 with lenalidomide due to the preclinical data showing that lenalidomide can increase natural killer cells in antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity, she adds.

The study also enrolled 4 cohorts: relapsed/refractory CLL, treatment-naïve CLL, Richter's transformation, and those who received prior treatment with ibrutinib. Additionally, the cohort of prior ibrutinib treatment are of patients who developed mutations that would render them resistant to ibrutinib, such as BTK, before adding MOR208 to ibrutinib.