Q 3 weeks suffices
In the question-and-answer session following the presentation, Kenny Lei, MD, from the Chinese University of Hong Kong asked Dr. Levy what the half-life of naratuximab is, and what was the investigator’s rationale for testing a weekly dosing schedule.
“I think the reason they checked the two different regimens, the Q week and the Q 3-week group, is that they noted that [naratuximab] was cleared relatively quickly, and they wanted to see whether or not, by giving Q weekly, when you get a continuous CD37 site occupancy if they would have a better outcome. But as you saw, in the groups there was really no clinically relevant difference in outcome,” Dr. Levy said.
Andrew Davies, MD, PhD, from the University of Southampton (England), asked whether the neutropenia seen in the study was related to myeloid expression of the target of from the off-target deconjugated payload.
“I don’t know that I necessarily have the answer to that,” Dr. Levy replied. “Remember there is the CD20 monoclonal rituximab which we know can cause neutropenia, as well as the CD37 and the target payload. I don’t know if we have enough information to attribute it to one specific component of the therapy,” he said.
The study was funded by Debiopharm International. Dr. Levy disclosed speaker activities for multiple companies, not including Debiopharm. Dr. Lei and Dr. Davies had no disclosures relevant to the study.