USFDA nod to Roche's Polivy in combination with R-CHP for certain types of previously untreated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

DLBCL is an aggressive, hard-to-treat disease and is the most common form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the United States. Approximately 31,000 people in the US are projected to be diagnosed with DLBCL in 2023. Limited progress has been made in improving patient outcomes in previously untreated DLBCL over the last two decades. While many patients are responsive to initial treatment, as many as four in 10 people with DLBCL do not respond or relapse. For people who undergo initial treatment with the standard of care, MabThera/Rituxan plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone (R-CHOP), most relapses occur within two years of starting treatment, and the majority of those who require subsequent lines of therapy have poor outcomes.

“It has been nearly 20 years since a new treatment option has become available to people newly diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma,” said Levi Garraway, M.D., Ph.D., Roche’s Chief Medical Officer and Head of Global Product Development. “The decision from the FDA to approve Polivy in combination with R-CHP in this setting brings a much-needed new treatment option which may improve outcomes and bring other benefits to many patients with this aggressive lymphoma.”

The FDA approval of Polivy plus R-CHP for the first-line treatment of DLBCL is based on pivotal data from POLARIX, an international phase III, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study that demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in PFS compared to R-CHOP. The risk of disease progression, relapse or death was reduced by 27% with Polivy plus R-CHP (n=440) compared with R-CHOP (n=439; hazard ratio [HR] 0.73; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.57–0.95; p<0.02).

This approval follows the FDA Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) vote of 11 to 2 in favour of Polivy in combination with R-CHP for previously untreated DLBCL. More than 70 countries have approved this Polivy combination for the treatment of adult patients with previously untreated DLBCL, including in the EU, UK, Japan, Canada and China. Polivy in combination with R-CHP was recently added to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) as a category 1, preferred regimen for first-line DLBCL. Polivy in combination with bendamustine and MabThera/Rituxan is currently approved in more than 80 countries worldwide for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory (R/R) DLBCL after one or more prior therapies, including in the US.

Read also: Roche collaborates with Eli Lilly to enhance early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease