Retrospective review of accelerated daratumumab administration

Daratumumab is an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody approved for multiple myeloma. The initial infusion is administered over a median of 7.5 hours with subsequent infusions given over 3 to 4 hours. Studies show high incidence of infusion related reactions (IRRs) with the initial dose which decreases with subsequent infusions. Accelerated 90 minute daratumumab infusions following the second dose of standard administration are widely accepted in practice including at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) despite limited data from small safety studies. The objective of this study is to evaluate the safety of accelerated daratumumab administration compared to standard administration. The primary outcome is the incidence of common terminology criteria for adverse events (CTCAE) version 5.0 grade 1 or higher for IRRs in accelerated and standard infusions. Secondary outcomes include non-IRR adverse events and amount of supportive care medications used pre- and post- and during accelerated and standard infusions. A total of seventy five patients received a daratumumab infusion between November 2015 and August 2019. There were a total of 420 daratumumab infusions evaluated, 317 (75.5%) were standard infusions of which 152 infusions were standard infusions that preceded an accelerated infusion. There were a total of 103 (24.5%) accelerated infusions. IRRs occurred in a total of 38 (9%) of the infusions with CTCAE grade 2 reactions occurring in total of 21 (5%) infusions and grade 1 occurring in 15 (3.6%) infusions. Overall accelerated daratumumab administration is safe and well tolerated when given following at least two standard infusions.