A new antibody-drug conjugate is showing promise in the treatment of a rare, aggressive blood cancer, a major conference has heard.
Pivekimab sunirine – PVEK – has been tested in patients with blastic plasmacytoid dendric cell neoplasm (BPDCN), researchers reported. In newly diagnosed patients receiving PVEK as a first-line therapy, the treatment resulted in high response rates.
The findings of the trial, which recruited patients globally, have been reported to the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology by researchers from the University of Texas MD Anderson Center, USA.
As a first-line therapy, PVEK resulted in a complete response in 70% of patients and a median overall survival of 16.6 months, the researchers reported.
The study also involved another 51 patients who suffered from relapsed or refractory disease - and they experienced a complete response rate of 14%, according to the trial findings.
The antibody-drug conjugate targets CD123 on the surface of cancer cells, delivering chemotherapy directly to the cell.
Study co-leader Professor Naveen Pemmaraju said: “Patients with BPDCN are in need of improved frontline therapies to treat their disease, so we’re very excited to see this trial going extremely well in terms of safety and efficacy.
“The responses we have observed make PVEK a strong candidate as a standard-of-care treatment.”
Source:
Pemmaraju N, Marconi G, Montesinos P, Lane A, Mazzarella L, Sallman D, Ulrickson M, Schiller G, Erba H, Wang E, Walter R, Deconinck E, Aribi A, Legrand O, Lebon D, Martinelli G, DeAngelo D, Du Y, Potluri J, Daver N (2025) “Efficacy and safety of pivekimab sunirine (PVEK) in patients (pts) with blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) in the CADENZA study.” Oral presentation at ASCO Annual Meeting, 2 June 2025.
Link: https://meetings.asco.org/abstracts-presentations/244202
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