Updated Clinical and Correlative Results from the Phase I CRB-402 Study of the BCMA-Targeted CAR T Cell Therapy bb21217 in Patients with Relapsed and Refractory Multiple Myeloma

Abstract

Introduction: Idecabtagene vicleucel (ide-cel, bb2121) is the first chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy approved for the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma after four or more prior lines of therapy, including an immunomodulatory agent, a proteasome inhibitor, and an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody. bb21217 is a B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) directed CAR T cell therapy which uses the same CAR molecule as ide-cel, with the addition of a PI3K inhibitor (bb007) during ex vivo culture to enrich the drug product (DP) for memory-like T cells and decrease the proportion of highly differentiated or senescent T cells. We hypothesize that DPs enriched for memory like CAR T cells will persist and function longer than non-enriched DPs and this increased persistence will positively influence duration of response (DOR). We previously demonstrated patients with sustained response are more likely to have drug product enriched for naïve gene signatures and depleted of effector gene signatures compared to patients without a sustained response. Methods: CRB-402 (NCT03274219) is a multi-center phase 1 trial of bb21217 in RRMM patients who received ≥3 prior lines of antimyeloma therapy, including a proteasome inhibitor and an immunomodulatory agent, or are double-refractory to both classes. In expansion, patients were required to have prior exposure to an anti-CD38 antibody and were required to be refractory to their last line of therapy. Patients underwent lymphodepletion with fludarabine (30 mg/m 2) and cyclophosphamide (300 mg/m 2) daily for 3 days, then received a single infusion of bb21217 at 150, 300 or 450 x 10 6 CAR+ T cells. The primary outcome measure is incidence of adverse events (AEs), including dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs). Additional outcome measures include overall response rate and DOR by IMWG Uniform Response Criteria. Exploratory analyses include correlation of outcome with the molecular characteristics of materials collected temporally through the treatment course, including PBMCs at apheresis, CAR+ T cells from drug product and CAR+ T cells collected from patients around the time of peak expansion. Results: Asof Feb 16, 2021, 72 patients received bb21217, 12 at 150, 14 at 300 and 46 at 450 x 10 6 CAR+ T cells; median follow up for all patients is 9.0 (<1-36) months (M). Patients had a median of 6 (3-17) prior lines of therapy with 49/72 (68%) triple refractory. Cytokine release syndrome (CRS) developed in 54/72 (75%) patients and was predominately G1/2 (51 pts), with 1 G3 event and 2 deaths (previously reported). Median time to first onset of CRS was 2 days (1-20); tocilizumab (38 pts) + corticosteroids (12 pts) was used to manage CRS. Eleven (15%) patients developed neurotoxicity [8 G1/G2, 2 G3, 1 G4] with median time to first onset of 7 (2-24) days. Response was assessed per investigator for 72 patients treated with bb21217 (Table). CAR+ T cells remained detectable in 30/37 (81%) patients and 9/15 (60%) patients at 6 and 12 M respectively, post bb21217 infusion. Of the 15 patients evaluable for MRD with ≥CR, 14 (93%) were MRD negative at 10 -5 by NGS. Analysis of peripheral blood samples collected 15 days post bb21217 infusion demonstrated patients with higher than the median number of CD8+ CAR+ T cells expressing CD27 and CD28 had significantly longer DOR (p=0.0024), compared to patients with lower than the median values. This suggests less differentiated, more proliferative CAR+ T cells at peak expansion are associated with prolonged disease response (median DOR in high vs low: 27.2M (95% CI; 16.8, NE) vs 9.4M (95% CI; 5.1, NE). Conclusions: Adverse events are consistent with known toxicities of CAR T cell therapies. Efficacy results are encouraging with a median DOR estimate of 17M, CR rate continues to mature. Patients with higher levels of proliferative, less differentiated memory like CAR+ T cells at peak expansion are more likely to experience prolonged DOR, continuing to support the hypothesis that the memory like T cell phenotype associated with bb21217 results in prolonged DOR. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Raje: Caribou: Other; Janssen: Other; bluebird bio: Other; Amgen: Other; Celgene: Other; BMS: Other. Shah: Poseida: Research Funding; Precision Biosciences: Research Funding; Sanofi: Consultancy; Sutro Biopharma: Research Funding; Karyopharm: Consultancy; Janssen: Research Funding; Oncopeptides: Consultancy; Kite: Consultancy; Nektar: Research Funding; Indapta Therapeutics: Consultancy; GSK: Consultancy; CSL Behring: Consultancy; CareDx: Consultancy; BMS/Celgene: Research Funding; Bluebird Bio: Research Funding; Amgen: Consultancy; Teneobio: Research Funding. Kaufman: BMS: Consultancy, Research Funding; Tecnofarma SAS, AbbVie: Honoraria; Incyte, celgene: Consultancy; Janssen: Honoraria; Incyte, TG Therapeutics: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Heidelberg Pharma: Research Funding; Amgen: Research Funding; Fortis Therapeutics: Research Funding; Novartis: Research Funding; Roche/Genetech, Tecnopharma: Consultancy, Honoraria; Sutro, Takeda: Research Funding; Genentech, AbbVie, Janssen: Consultancy, Research Funding. Siegel: Celularity: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; GlaxoSmithKline: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Takeda: Honoraria; Bristol Myers Squibb: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Amgen Inc.: Honoraria; Karyopharm: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau. Munshi: Janssen: Consultancy; Bristol-Myers Squibb: Consultancy; Legend: Consultancy; Adaptive Biotechnology: Consultancy; Amgen: Consultancy; Takeda: Consultancy; Abbvie: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy; Celgene: Consultancy; Oncopep: Consultancy, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company, Other: scientific founder, Patents & Royalties; Karyopharm: Consultancy; Pfizer: Consultancy. Rosenblatt: Parexel: Consultancy; Karyopharm: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Imaging Endpoints: Consultancy; Attivare: Consultancy; Wolters Kluwer Health Inc: Consultancy, Patents & Royalties. Lin: Sorrento: Consultancy; Takeda: Research Funding; Juno: Consultancy; Celgene: Consultancy, Research Funding; Merck: Research Funding; Vineti: Consultancy; Legend: Consultancy; Bluebird Bio: Consultancy, Research Funding; Novartis: Consultancy; Gamida Cell: Consultancy; Kite, a Gilead Company: Consultancy, Research Funding; Janssen: Consultancy, Research Funding. Jakubowiak: BMS: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Abbvie: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Gracell: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; GSK: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Janssen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Karyopharm: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Amgen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Sanofi: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Timm: bluebird bio: Current Employment. Yeri: bluebird bio: Current Employment. Martin: Bristol Myers Squibb: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Campbell: Bristol Myers Squibb: Current Employment, Current holder of individual stocks in a privately-held company. Finney: bluebird bio: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Truppel-Hartmann: bluebird bio: Current Employment. Petrocca: blue bird bio: Ended employment in the past 24 months. Berdeja: Abbvie, Acetylon, Amgen: Research Funding; Celularity, CRISPR Therapeutics: Research Funding; Bluebird bio, BMS, Celgene, CRISPR Therapeutics, Janssen, Kite Pharma, Legend Biotech, SecuraBio, Takeda: Consultancy; EMD Sorono, Genentech: Research Funding; GSK, Ichnos Sciences, Incyte: Research Funding; Lilly, Novartis: Research Funding; Poseida, Sanofi, Teva: Research Funding.

Targeting BCMA to Treat Multiple Myeloma: Updates From the 2021 ASH Annual Meeting

“…The preliminary results of its preclinical study have been reported before, and the subsequent results presented in ASH2021 showed that adding PI3K inhibitor (BB007) during the in vitro culture stage to amplify memory-like T cells (CD62L + and CD27 + ) ( 74 , 75 ) could advance the persistence of CAR-T cells literally. This positive effect was reflected on a better DOR of bb21217 compared with bb2121 ( 65 ), which shared the same CAR structure with it ( 55 ). Moreover, after infusing bb21217, CAR-T cells could be detected in 30/37 (81%) patients and 9/15 (60%) patients at 6th and 12th months.…”

“…Moreover, the preliminary results of many other related studies, such as the engineering improvement strategies to existing CAR-T-cell products or the effects induced by multiple factors inside and outside the body, were reported in this meeting. The relevant data about the safety and efficacy of those products, including ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel) ( 46 – 48 ), CT053 ( 49 , 50 ), CT103A ( 51 ), C-CAR088 ( 52 ), PHE885 ( 53 ), CART-ddBCMA ( 54 ), and bb21217 ( 55 ), are presented in Table 2 , and the relevant supplementary explanations will be carried out later in this paper.…”

Quantitative Clinical Pharmacology of CAR T‐Cell Therapy

“…This approach is being evaluated with the bb21217 anti‐BCMA product, which involves the use of ex vivo culture of the cells with a phosphoinositide 3‐kinase inhibitor. Preliminary results from the ongoing phase I study of this product suggest that patients with higher than median number of CD8+ CAR T‐cells expressing CD27/CD28 had significantly longer duration of response compared to patients with lower than median values ( P = 0.0024) 20 …”

“…Preliminary results from the ongoing phase I study of this product suggest that patients with higher than median number of CD8+ CAR T-cells expressing CD27/ CD28 had significantly longer duration of response compared to patients with lower than median values (P = 0.0024). 20 As CAR T-cells represent a therapy that can replicate and sustain itself over time, an improved understanding of mechanisms driving in vivo CAR T-cell expansion and persistence is needed. There has been much scrutiny over whether therapies administered to manage CAR T-cell-induced CRS can abrogate expansion and efficacy.…”

Harnessing the T Cell to Treat Multiple Myeloma: Dawn of a New Therapeutic Paradigm

“…An updated version of the ide-cel product, bb21217, has also been evaluated in early phase trials. Unlike ide-cel, bb21217 is cocultured with a PI3K inhibitor to increase the number of memory-like T cells and remove senescent cells from the CAR T product (96). So far, an ORR of 69% has been observed in a phase 1 trial.…”