Abecma’s first-line hopes dashed

2seventy bio and Bristol Myers Squibb have given up on first-line multiple myeloma with their BCMA-targeting Car-T therapy Abecma, just a year after a phase 3 study was begun. The companies blamed the improving treatment landscape for the discontinuation of the Karmma-9 trial, adding they were seeing “considerably fewer eligible patients than when the study was first designed”. Recruitment problems don’t seem to have hit Johnson & Johnson/Legend’s rival Car-T Carvykti; Legend said in August it had completed enrolment in the Cartitude-5 trial, albeit in a different setting. GSK also sees a future here for its controversial ADC Blenrep, recently disclosing plans to start the Dreamm-10 first-line trial next year. Still, J&J and Genmab’s Darzalex is increasing its multiple myeloma stranglehold; a new quadruplet was recently approved in transplant-eligible front-line patients, and data with the same combo in transplant-ineligible subjects, from the Cepheus trial, will feature at this week’s International Myeloma Society meeting in Brazil. 2seventy is all-in on Abecma, with hopes to break even in 2025. It’ll save $80m from the latest move, and expects to soon see a sales boost from the product’s third-line approval earlier this year. The group's shares fell 10% on Wednesday morning.

Phase 3 trials of BCMA projects in first-line multiple myeloma

Note: ASCT=autologous stem cell transplant; Drd=Darzalex, Revlimid + dexamethasone; VRd=Velcade, Revlimid + dexamethasone. Source: OncologyPipeline.