In TRANSCEND FL, lisocabtagene maraleucel (liso-cel) demonstrated strong efficacy, with 97% overall response rate (ORR) and 94% complete response (CR) rate in third-line or later (3 L+) follicular lymphoma (FL). Here, we compared efficacy and safety of liso-cel from TRANSCEND FL to standard-of-care (SOC excluding T-cell-engaging therapies) by constructing an external control arm (ECA) of patients from historical clinical trials and real-world practice. Using inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW), ECA cohort was balanced to match TRANSCEND FL. After IPTW, liso-cel-treated patients had significantly higher ORR (relative risk: 1.4; 95% confidence interval CI: 1.3-1.6) and CR rate (2.4; 2.1-2.7) than SOC. Adjusted hazard ratios (95% CI) for duration of response (0.26; 0.15-0.46), time to next treatment (0.24; 0.13-0.44), progression-free survival (0.28; 0.17-0.48), and overall survival (0.40; 0.19-0.84) significantly favored liso-cel, demonstrating meaningful efficacy improvement with liso-cel over SOC, solidifying liso-cel as a treatment option for patients with 3 L + FL.
Nastoupil et al. (Tue,) studied this question.