Talquetamab-Daratumumab in Relapsed or Refractory Myeloma

Talquetamab, a bispecific antibody targeting GPRC5D and CD3, has led to durable responses in patients with heavily pretreated relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma in phase 1-2 trials, with a limited effect on normal B cells.

In a phase 3 trial, we randomly assigned patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who had previously received at least one line of therapy to receive talquetamab plus daratumumab and pomalidomide (Tal-DP), talquetamab plus daratumumab (Tal-D), or daratumumab plus pomalidomide and dexamethasone (DPd). The primary end point was progression-free survival as assessed by an independent review committee. Key secondary end points were overall response, complete response or better (complete or stringent complete response), measurable residual disease-negative complete response, and overall survival.

A total of 287, 287, and 290 patients were assigned to the Tal-DP, Tal-D, and DPd groups, respectively. At the interim analysis (median follow-up, 24.6 months), progression-free survival was significantly longer with Tal-DP and Tal-D than with DPd (24-month estimate, 81.3% and 77.6% vs. 51.2%; hazard ratio for disease progression or death, Tal-DP vs. DPd, 0.28 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 0.20 to 0.40], and Tal-D vs. DPd, 0.33 [95% CI, 0.24 to 0.46]; P<0.001 for both comparisons). The overall response was higher with Tal-DP and Tal-D than with DPd (88.2% and 88.5% vs. 77.6%), as was complete response or better (71.1% and 69.0% vs. 34.5%) and measurable residual disease-negative complete response (52.3% and 46.3% vs. 15.9%) (P<0.001 for all comparisons). Overall survival at 24 months was 89.2% with Tal-DP, 87.9% with Tal-D, and 79.1% with DPd (hazard ratio for death, Tal-DP vs. DPd, 0.47 [95% CI, 0.30 to 0.73], and Tal-D vs. DPd, 0.51 [95% CI, 0.33 to 0.78]). Serious adverse events occurred in 63.0%, 52.6%, and 53.7% of the patients in the Tal-DP, Tal-D, and DPd groups, respectively; fatal adverse events occurred in 1.8%, 4.0%, and 4.6%.

Among patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who had previously received at least one line of therapy, both Tal-DP and Tal-D led to significantly longer progression-free survival than DPd. (Funded by Johnson & Johnson; MonumenTAL-3 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT05455320.).