Dr. Chavez on Blinatumomab in ALL

Julio Chavez, MD, assistant member, Lymphoma Section, Department of Malignant Hematology, Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses the use of blinatumomab (Blincyto) in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

In March 2018, the FDA granted an accelerated approval to blinatumomab for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with B-cell precursor ALL who are in remission but still have minimal residual disease (MRD).

Blinatumomab is a bispecific antibody that targets the CD19 antigen in B-cell malignancies, specifically B-cell ALL, says Chavez. A randomized clinical trial compared the agent to standard of care chemotherapy in patients who relapsed after 1 or 2 lines of therapy as well as in patients with MRD-positive status and showed great responses with the therapy. MRD positivity is indicative of poor prognosis, explains Chavez. However, in the phase II BLAST study, blinatumomab induced a nearly 80% complete MRD response rate in patients with MRD-positive ALL in hematologic complete remission.