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ABSTRACT: Bispecific antibodies for treatment for multiple myeloma are highly effective but commonly cause cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS). Emerging data indicate that prophylactic tocilizumab may reduce CRS, without impacting efficacy. We administered a single dose of tocilizumab before the first dose of bispecific antibodies to 119 patients to determine the impact on CRS in a real-world setting including B-cell maturation antigen × CD3- and G-protein-coupled receptor class C group 5 member D × CD3-targeted antibodies. The best overall response rate was 65.7% (binomial 95% confidence interval CI, 55.8-74.7). We observed a low overall rate of CRS (10.1%; 95% CI, 5.3-17). For teclistamab, elranatamab, linvoseltamab, and talquetamab individually, the CRS rate was 8.9%, 12.5%, 0%, and 13%, respectively. The overall rate of ICANS (5.9%; 95% CI, 2.4-11.7) was low but similar to rates without prophylactic tocilizumab. CRS was limited to grade 1 for 10 of 12 events. There were no grade 3 CRS events, and no additional doses of tocilizumab or corticosteroids were given for CRS. Our real-world evidence results suggest that tocilizumab may be effective as a preventive, rather than reactive, measure to prevent CRS without compromising efficacy.
Kowalski et al. (Tue,) studied this question.