New therapeutic target expands options for multiple myeloma
In a phase I clinical trial from Penn Medicine, activating T cells with the antibody cevostamab targets a protein found on the surface of plasma cells, supporting further clinical research as a myeloma treatment.
2 min. read
In a phase I clinical trial, treatment with the investigational bispecific antibody cevostamab has reduced cancer in more than 40% of patients with multiple myeloma. Many of the patients had already been through multiple other cancer treatments, and produced a median duration of response of 11.2 months before the cancer progressed.
Cevostamab works by activating patients’ own immune cells, specifically T cells, to attack the myeloma. It is the first therapy to target FcRH5, a protein found on the surface of plasma cells, providing a proof-of-concept for this new target in multiple myeloma, which develops from malignant plasma cells. The results are published in Nature Medicine by Adam Cohen, from the Abramson Cancer Center and Perelman School of Medicine, and international collaborators.
For most patients with multiple myeloma, the disease journey begins with a combination of therapies after diagnosis, in some cases followed by an autologous stem cell transplant. Unfortunately, almost all patients eventually experience a relapse. When the cancer returns, they receive another therapy until the cancer progresses, and repeat.
“In myeloma, there’s always a need to reach for the next treatment, so having another validated target will give us more options, particularly for patients who might have already tried our currently approved BCMA or GPRC5D-targeted therapies,” says Cohen, a professor of hematology-oncology and director of Myeloma Immunotherapy. “These results have opened the door to new studies investigating a fixed-duration approach for other bispecific antibodies as well.”
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