Ash 2021 late-breakers enable neat comparisons

The Ash late-breaker abstracts, just unveiled, mean that a direct cross-trial comparison of three approved Car-T therapies in second-line lymphoma will be possible after all. Breyanzi’s Transform study and Yescarta’s Zuma-7 had already featured in the meeting’s main programme, and now Kymriah’s failed Belinda study has been confirmed as a late-breaker; no doubt much of the focus will be on trial differences and baseline imbalances. A separate neat comparison will be possible for Sanofi/Alnylam’s delayed haemophilia A and B RNAi project fitusiran, which secured a plenary spot for its Atlas-INH trial in patients with inhibitors. Today it became apparent that Atlas-A/B, in those without, will feature at a late-breaker. While both studies comfortably hit statistical significance in terms of annualised bleeding rate the spotlight will be on adverse events, which had prompted Sanofi to investigate a lower dose of fitusiran. Finally, Roche’s attempt to move Polivy into front-line lymphoma will be scrutinised with full data from the Polarix trial, earlier touted as the first in two decades to show improved PFS in front-line disease. The abstract suggests that the effect is modest, and moreover there is no benefit in overall survival.