Adding blinatumomab to consolidation therapy in older newly-diagnosed patients with Philadelphia-negative B-ALL

Previously, the phase III ECOG-ACRIN E1910 study demonstrated that the addition of blinatumomab to standard consolidation therapy significantly improved the overall survival (OS) of patients with Philadelphia-negative B-ALL who did not have minimal residual disease after intensification. During ASH 2024, Dr Nikolai Podoltsev from the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, CT (USA) presented the results of a subgroup analysis of this trial looking into the effect of blinatumomab in patients aged 55 years or older. Surprisingly, in this cohort of older patients, adding blinatumomab to standard consolidation therapy did not lead to a longer relapse-free (RFS) or OS. According to Dr Podoltsev, this lack of a treatment effect may be linked to the small sample size (N=211) but may also point towards a different disease biology in older B-ALL patients. Further studies are needed to better determine the tolerance and benefit of blinatumomab added to consolidation therapy in older ALL patients.