Teclistamab Shows "Tremendous Efficacy" in MajesTEC-5 Trial: Marc S. Raab, MD, PhD

In a session at the recent 22nd International Myeloma Society annual meeting, Marc S. Raab, MD, PhD, presented the oral abstract, “Post-Induction Outcomes and Updated Minimal Residual Disease Analysis from GMMG-HD10/DSMM-XX (MajesTEC-5): A Study of Teclistamab-Based Induction Regimens in Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma (NDMM).” These updated data on the first-in-class B-cell maturation antigen x CD3 bispecific antibody are from among 3 induction cohorts who received steroid-sparing regimens of teclistamab (Tecvayli; Janssen Biotech Inc) with daratumumab/lenalidomide with or without bortezomib.

Raab and his team saw that 100% of minimal residual disease (MRD)–eligible patients achieved MRD-negative status at 10^–5 and 10^–6 thresholds at completion of induction. Here, Raab, who is a professor of medicine Department of Medicine V Hematology, Oncology, and Rheumatology, University Hospital Heidelberg in Germany, highlights some of these important findings among patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.

This transcript was lightly edited for clarity; captions were auto-generated.

Transcript

Can you provide an overview of the MajesTEC-5 trial, including the patient population and results you would like to highlight?

This was a trial for newly diagnosed patients considered transplant-eligible, so that's why, not surprisingly, they're comparatively younger patients—the median age was 58—and most of them, of course, were relatively fit, but had a high tumor load of 30%; 45% had a pulmonary filtration of more than 60%; cytogenetic risk markers were seen in 20% of the patients. It’s a more or less typical fit patient population eligible for transplant.

We mainly found, we're looking, of course, mainly for safety—that was the purpose of the trial—in different setups, combinations. We found that safety is manageable, as we say. You have to keep an eye on infections, you have to keep an eye on the CRS [cytokine release syndrome] at the beginning, but that's all manageable, and with prophylactic measures, especially for the infections, like IVIg [intravenous immunoglobulin] supplementation, antiviral prophylaxis. You can at least prevent really severe infections in most cases. Although we had a grade 3/4 infection rate of about 36%, so about a third of the patients experienced higher-grade infections, no grade 5 infections were reported. Of course, the most important part is the efficacy, and we see tremendous efficacy with all patients tested, and that was 48 out of 49 patients. Only 1 patient could not be tested, but all patients tested reached MRD [minimal residual disease] negativity down to the 10^–6 in all patients, so I think that speaks for itself.