Acalabrutinib in Waldenström macroglobulinemia yields durable responses with 5 years of follow-up
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Clinical Trial
Abstract: ABSTRACT: Acalabrutinib is a covalent Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor. In the phase 2 ACE-WM-001 trial, at 27.4-month median follow-up, acalabrutinib yielded durable responses in patients with treatment-naive (TN) or relapsed/refractory (R/R) Waldenström macroglobulinemia (WM). We report WM-001 results at 63.7-month median follow-up. Overall, 106 patients (TN, n = 14; R/R, n = 92) were treated; 52.8% discontinued treatment (TN, n = 7; R/R, n = 49), most commonly because of disease progression (19.8%; TN, n = 1; R/R, n = 20) and adverse events (AEs; 17.9%; TN, n = 4; R/R, n = 15). Overall response rates were 92.9% and 94.6%, and major response rates (partial response or better) were 78.6% and 81.5% in the TN and R/R cohorts, respectively. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was not estimable (NE; 95% confidence interval, 19.3 to NE) and 67.5 months (53.3 to NE), with estimated 66-month PFS rates of 83.6% (48.0-95.7) and 52.0% (39.3-63.2) in the TN and R/R cohorts, respectively. Median duration of response (DOR) was not reached (NR) (11.9 months to NE) and 64.7 months (54.5 to NE), with estimated 66-month DOR rates of 90.0% (47.3-98.5) and 44.8% (27.1-61.1) in the TN and R/R cohorts, respectively. Median overall survival (OS) was NR in both cohorts; estimated 66-month OS rates were 90.9% (50.8-98.7) and 71.2% (60.3-79.6), respectively. Cardiac events of clinical interest occurred in 22 (20.8%) patients. One grade 5 AE (intracranial hematoma) was considered treatment related. With 5 years of follow-up, the efficacy and safety of acalabrutinib in WM were maintained. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02180724.
Source: Blood Advances
Authors: Roger G. Owen, Helen McCarthy, Shirley D’Sa, Sheeba K. Thomas, Olivier Tournilhac, Francesco Forconi, Marie José Kersten, Pier Luigi Zinzani, Sunil Iyengar, Jaimal Kothari, Monique C. Minnema, Efstathios Kastritis, Bruce D. Cheson, Harriet S. Walter, Daniel Greenwald, Roser Calvo, Yi Li, Simon Rule, Richard R. Furman
Institutions: St James's University Hospital, Royal Bournemouth Hospital, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Université Clermont Auvergne, Clonal Heterogeneity, Leukemic environment, ThErapy Resistance of chronic leukemias, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, University of Southampton, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Cancer Center Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, Istituto di Ematologia di Bologna, University of Bologna, Royal Marsden Hospital, Churchill Hospital, Utrecht University, University Medical Center Utrecht, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Georgetown University Medical Center, Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Leicester, University of California, Los Angeles, AstraZeneca (United States), AstraZeneca (Canada), NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medicine
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,800
OpenAlex ID: W7154456763
