On February 19, 2015 Roche reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted and granted priority review for the company’s New Drug Application (NDA) for cobimetinib in combination with Zelboraf (vemurafenib) for the treatment of people with BRAF V600 mutation-positive advanced melanoma (Press release Hoffmann-La Roche , FEB 18, 2015, View Source [SID:1234501708]). The FDA will make a decision on approval by August 11, 2015.

“We are pleased the FDA has accepted our application for cobimetinib in combination with Zelboraf and granted it priority review status,” said Sandra Horning, M.D., Chief Medical Officer and Head of Global Product Development. “We look forward to working with the FDA to bring this new treatment option to people with BRAF mutation-positive advanced melanoma as soon as possible.”

A priority review designation is granted to medicines that the FDA determines have the potential to provide significant improvements in the treatment, prevention or diagnosis of a disease. The NDA is based on results of the coBRIM Phase III study, which showed the MEK inhibitor cobimetinib plus Zelboraf reduced the risk of disease worsening or death by half in people who received the combination (hazard ratio [HR]=0.51, 95 percent confidence interval [CI] 0.39-0.68; p<0.0001), with a median PFS of 9.9 months for cobimetinib plus Zelboraf compared to 6.2 months with Zelboraf alone. The safety profile was consistent with a previous study of the combination. The most common Grade 3 or higher adverse events in the combination arm included liver lab value abnormalities, elevated creatine phosphokinase (CPK, an enzyme released by muscles) and diarrhea. The most common adverse events seen in the combination arm included diarrhea, nausea, rash, photosensitivity and lab value abnormalities.

On February 18, 2015 Seattle Genetics reported that it has submitted a supplemental Biologics License Application (BLA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) based on data from the phase 3 AETHERA trial of ADCETRIS (brentuximab vedotin) as consolidation therapy immediately following an autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) in Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) patients at high risk of relapse (Press release Seattle Genetics, FEB 18, 2015, View Source [SID:1234501704]). ADCETRIS is an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) directed to CD30, which is expressed in classical HL and systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (sALCL). ADCETRIS is approved in relapsed HL and sALCL but is currently not approved for consolidation therapy in HL patients immediately after ASCT.

“With approximately half of all Hodgkin lymphoma patients who undergo an autologous stem cell transplant experiencing disease relapse, there is a significant need to identify regimens that extend progression-free survival,” said Clay B. Siegall, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Seattle Genetics. “Results from the AETHERA trial demonstrated that treating high risk Hodgkin lymphoma patients with ADCETRIS in following autologous stem cell transplant resulted in a statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival with a manageable safety profile. We believe that this is clinically meaningful and supports a label expansion for ADCETRIS in this setting.”

The supplemental BLA is based on positive results from a phase 3 clinical trial called AETHERA that were presented at the 56th American Society of Hematology (ASH) (Free ASH Whitepaper) Annual Meeting in December 2014. Results from the AETHERA trial in 329 HL patients at high risk of relapse included:

The trial achieved its primary endpoint and demonstrated a significant increase in progression-free survival (PFS) per independent review facility, with a hazard ratio of 0.57 and a p-value of 0.001. Median PFS was 43 months for patients who received ADCETRIS versus 24 months for patients who received placebo. The two-year PFS rate was 63 percent in the ADCETRIS arm compared to 51 percent in the placebo arm.
The PFS benefit was consistent across all pre-specified subgroups, including primary refractory patients, patients who relapsed within twelve months of frontline therapy and patients who relapsed after twelve months with extranodal disease.
The most common adverse events in the ADCETRIS arm were peripheral sensory neuropathy (56 percent), neutropenia (35 percent), upper respiratory tract infection (26 percent), fatigue (24 percent) and peripheral motor neuropathy (23 percent). The most common adverse events in the placebo arm were upper respiratory tract infection (23 percent), fatigue (18 percent), peripheral sensory neuropathy (16 percent), cough (16 percent) and neutropenia (12 percent). Eighty-five percent of patients with peripheral neuropathy on the ADCETRIS arm had resolution or improvement in symptoms with a median time to improvement of 23.4 weeks.

Submission of safety data from the AETHERA trial to the FDA is a post-marketing requirement that Seattle Genetics will fulfill with this submission of the supplemental BLA.

On February 18, 2015 Celgene reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded the existing indication for REVLIMID (lenalidomide) in combination with dexamethasone to include patients newly diagnosed with multiple myeloma (NDMM) (Press release Celgene, FEB 18, 2015, View Source [SID:1234501703]). REVLIMID plus dexamethasone was previously approved in June 2006 for use in multiple myeloma patients who have received at least one prior therapy.

“The approval of REVLIMID as an option for use in all patients with multiple myeloma represents a new paradigm in the management of this disease,” said Kenneth Anderson, M.D., Director, Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center, Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center. “We now have clinical evidence demonstrating that starting and keeping newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients on REVLIMID significantly improves progression-free survival.”

The approval was based on safety and efficacy results from phase III studies, including the FIRST trial (MM-020/IFM 07-01), which evaluated continuous REVLIMID in combination with dexamethasone (Rd Continuous) until disease progression versus melphalan, prednisone and thalidomide (MPT) for 18 months as the primary analysis, and a fixed duration of 18 cycles of Rd (Rd18) as a secondary analysis, in 1,623 newly diagnosed patients who were not candidates for stem cell transplant.

In this randomized, open-label, three-arm trial, median progression-free survival (PFS), the length of time a patient lives from study randomization to disease progression or death was the primary endpoint of the study. PFS was significantly longer for patients receiving Rd Continuous (25.5 months) than for those treated with MPT (21.2 months; HR=0.72; p=0.0001). Median overall survival (OS) in the two groups was 58.9 months and 48.5 months, respectively (HR 0.75; 95% CI 0.62, 0.90) based on a March 3, 2014 interim OS analysis. Patients in the Rd Continuous arm had a 25% reduction in the risk of death compared to patients in the MPT arm.

Safety results showed that adverse reactions reported in ≥20% of NDMM patients in the Rd Continuous, Rd18 or MPT arms included diarrhea (45.5%, 38.5%, 16.5%), anemia (43.8%, 35.7%, 42.3%), neutropenia (35.0%, 33.0%, 60.6%), fatigue (32.5%, 32.8%, 28.5%), back pain (32.0%, 26.9%, 21.4%), insomnia (27.6%, 23.5%, 9.8%), asthenia (28.2%, 22.8%, 22.9%), rash (26.1%, 28.0%, 19.4%), decreased appetite (23.1%, 21.3%, 13.3%), cough (22.7%, 17.4%, 12.6%), pyrexia (21.4%, 18.9%, 14.0%), muscle spasms (20.5%, 18.9%, 11.3%) and abdominal pain (20.5%, 14.4%, 11.1%).

The most frequently reported Grade 3 or 4 events in the Rd Continuous arm (until disease progression) included neutropenia (27.8%), anemia (18.2%), thrombocytopenia (8.3%), pneumonia (11.3%), asthenia (7.7%), fatigue (7.3%), back pain (7%), hypokalemia (6.6%), rash (7.3%), cataract (5.8%), dyspnea (5.6%), DVT (5.6%) and hyperglycemia (5.3%).

“At Celgene, we are very happy with the FDA’s decision, which adds information on the use of REVLIMID plus dexamethasone as a first-line treatment for multiple myeloma to the prescribing information,” said Jacqualyn A. Fouse, Ph.D., President, Global Hematology and Oncology for Celgene. “Now, as part of our commitment to improving the lives of patients living with this disease, our next step is to make the benefits of this treatment regimen available to those now eligible under the expanded indication.”

Celgene currently has an application under review with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for approval to use REVLIMID for the treatment of adult patients with previously untreated multiple myeloma who are not eligible for transplant. The EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) published a positive opinion for this application in December 2014.