Dr Stilgenbauer on Efficacy Data for Tacabrutideg in CLL from CaDAnCe-101

“The bottom line is that there continues to be dramatic development in [the CLL field]. [CaDAnCe-101] demonstrates that when we target disease biology with novel principles, we can overcome treatment resistance and high-risk disease features.”

Stephan Stilgenbauer, MD, a professor in the Department of Hematology, Oncology, Rheumatology and Infectious Diseases at the University of Ulm, discussed efficacy data for tacabrutideg (BGB-16673) in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) from the phase 1/2 CaDAnCe-101 trial (NCT05006716),which were presented at the 2026 EHA Congress. In addition to discussing data from the trial that were presented at the meeting, Stilgenbauer detailed how these data will serve as a basis for future development of tacabrutideg and other BTK degraders.

Efficacy data from the trial were reported from the cohort of patients with CLL or small lymphocytic lymphoma who received tacabrutideg (n = 22). At a median follow up of 8.2 months (range, 0.4-12.8), patients in this efficacy-evaluable cohort achieved an overall response rate (ORR) of 86.4% with 68.2%, 18.2%, and 13.6% of patients achieving a partial response (PR), PR with lymphocytosis, and stable disease as their best responses, respectively. Moreover, the respective median time to first response and time to best response among these patients were 2.8 months (range, 2.7-5.6) and 5.5 months (range, 2.7-6.8).

Stilgenbauer started by pointing out the strong ORRs shown for tacabrutideg in the trial, noting that this efficacy signal was particularly strong in certain subsets of patients. Additionally, he highlighted how the durations of these responses were durable, noting that with a median follow-up of approximately 2 years, over half of the patients were progression free and still alive. Stilgenbauer concluded by explaining how data from the trial confirm beliefs of overcoming treatment resistance and high-risk disease features by targeting disease biology, helping to improve the lives of patients.