NORTH CHICAGO, Ill. — AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Priority Review of the supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for epcoritamab-bysp, a subcutaneously administered T-cell engaging bispecific antibody for the treatment of adult relapsed or refractory (R/R) follicular lymphoma (FL) after two or more lines of therapy. If approved, epcoritamab-bysp (EPKINLY®) will be the first and only subcutaneous bispecific antibody to treat adults with R/R FL after two lines of prior therapy, marking its second indication following FDA and European Medicines Agency (EMA) approval of R/R third-line diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) treatment.
The FDA grants Priority Review to investigational therapies that, if approved, may offer significant improvements in the safety or effectiveness of the treatment, diagnosis or prevention of serious conditions when compared to standard applications. This designation shortens the review period to six months compared to 10 months for Standard Review. In addition, the investigational R/R FL indication was granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation by the FDA and was submitted to the EMA in November 2023.
“Despite new treatment options, follicular lymphoma remains incurable and difficult to treat. Unfortunately, relapse is common and additional lines of treatment are needed,” said Mariana Cota Stirner, M.D., Ph.D., vice president, therapeutic area head for hematology, AbbVie. “Together with our partner Genmab, we are committed to further advancing epcoritamab as a core lymphoma therapy.”
The sBLA is based on results from the Phase 1/2 EPCORE™ NHL-1 clinical trial, which demonstrated high overall and complete responses in patients with R/R FL after two or more lines of therapy treated with epcoritamab. Data from the FL cohorts of the trial were presented at the Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in December 2023. The optimization cohort evaluated an alternative step-up dosing to reduce the risk and severity of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and to support potential outpatient administration.
Epcoritamab is being co-developed by AbbVie and Genmab as part of the companies’ oncology collaboration. The companies will share commercial responsibilities in the U.S. and Japan, with AbbVie responsible for further global commercialization. Both companies will pursue additional international regulatory approvals for the investigational R/R FL indication and additional approvals for the R/R DLBCL indication.
About the Phase 1/2 EPCORE™ NHL-1 Trial
EPCORE™ NHL-1 is an open-label, multi-center safety and preliminary efficacy trial of epcoritamab that consists of three parts: a dose escalation part; an expansion part; and an optimization part. The trial was designed to evaluate subcutaneous epcoritamab in patients with relapsed, progressive or refractory CD20+ mature B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (B-NHL), including FL after two or more lines of systemic therapy. In the expansion part, additional patients were enrolled to further explore the safety and efficacy of epcoritamab in three cohorts of patients with different types of relapsed/refractory B-NHLs who have limited therapeutic options. The optimization part evaluates the potential for alternative step-up dosing regimens to help further minimize Grade 2 cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and mitigate Grade ≥3 CRS. The primary endpoint of the expansion part was ORR as assessed by an IRC. Secondary efficacy endpoints included duration of response, complete response rate, duration of complete response, progression-free survival, and time to response as determined by the Lugano criteria. Overall survival, time to next therapy, and rate of minimal residual disease negativity were also evaluated as secondary efficacy endpoints. The primary endpoint of the optimization part was the rate of ≥ Grade 2 CRS events and all grade CRS events from first dose of epcoritamab through 7 days following administration of the second full dose of epcoritamab.
About Follicular Lymphoma (FL)
FL is typically an indolent (or slow-growing) form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) that arises from B-lymphocytes. FL is the second most common form of NHL, accounting for 20-30% of all NHL cases, and represents 10-20% of all lymphomas in the western world.Although FL is an indolent lymphoma, it is considered incurable with conventional therapy and patients who achieve remission often experience relapse. Additionally, with each relapse the remission and time to next treatment is shorter, adding increased cost to the health system and negatively impacting the patient’s quality of life.
About Epcoritamab
Epcoritamab is an investigational IgG1-bispecific antibody created using Genmab’s proprietary DuoBody® technology and administered subcutaneously. Genmab’s DuoBody-CD3 technology is designed to direct cytotoxic T cells selectively to elicit an immune response toward target cell types. Epcoritamab is designed to simultaneously bind to CD3 on T cells and CD20 on B cells and induces T-cell-mediated killing of CD20+ cells.
Epcoritamab (approved under the brand name EPKINLY® in the United States and TEPKINLY® in the European Union) has received regulatory approval in adults with certain types of large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL), including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), globally. EPKINLY is approved under the FDA’s Accelerated Approval program based on response rate and durability of response. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials. Use of epcoritamab in FL is not approved in the U.S. or in the EU. AbbVie will continue to pursue regulatory submissions for epcoritamab across international markets.
Genmab and AbbVie continue to evaluate the use of epcoritamab as a monotherapy, and in combination, across different lines of therapy in a range of hematologic malignancies. This includes three ongoing Phase 3, open-label, randomized trials including a trial evaluating epcoritamab as a monotherapy in patients with R/R DLBCL (NCT: 04628494) compared to investigator’s choice chemotherapy, a Phase 3 trial evaluating epcoritamab in combination with R-CHOP in adult patients with newly diagnosed DLBCL (NCT: 05578976), and a Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating epcoritamab in combination with rituximab and lenalidomide (R2) in patients with R/R FL (NCT: 05409066). Epcoritamab is not approved to treat patients with newly diagnosed DLBCL or with FL. The safety and efficacy of epcoritamab has not been established for these investigational uses.
About AbbVie
AbbVie’s mission is to discover and deliver innovative medicines and solutions that solve serious health issues today and address the medical challenges of tomorrow. We strive to have a remarkable impact on people’s lives across several key therapeutic areas – immunology, oncology, neuroscience, and eye care – and products and services in our Allergan Aesthetics portfolio.
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