Oncology drug specialist ADC Therapeutics has continued its Phase I clinical trial of combination of ADCT-402 (loncastuximab tesirine) with Pharmacyclics LLC’s ibrutinib, by dosing patients with advanced diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) or mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).
In the press release on Wednesday, ADCT-402, which is created to fight CD19-expressing malignant B-cells, is also being evaluated in an ongoing pivotal Phase II clinical trial in patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) DLBCL and a Phase I clinical trial in combination with IMFINZI (durvalumab) in patients with multiple types of R/R non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Ibrutinib, a small-molecule inhibitor of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase that is jointly developed and commercialized by Pharmacyclics LLC, an AbbVie company, and Janssen Biotech, Inc., is a mediator of the B-cell-receptor signaling pathway implicated in the pathogenesis of B-cell cancers. Ibrutinib is approved for use in patients with R/R MCL and has shown some activity in R/R DLBCL.
Jay Feingold, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of Clinical Development at ADC Therapeutics, said: “In our second combination trial of ADCT-402, we look forward to exploring whether ADCT-402 and ibrutinib, both of which target B-cell cancers with different mechanisms of action, may increase the response rate and durability of response compared to the effects of these compounds as single agents.”