Safety and Efficacy of Glofitamab for Relapsed/Refractory Large B-Cell Lymphoma in a Multinational Real-World Study

Glofitamab, a bispecific antibody targeting CD20 and CD3, is approved for relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (r/r DLBCL) after at least two prior treatment lines, but real-world data is scarce. In this retrospective, multicenter, multinational study, we evaluated the outcomes of 70 patients with r/r DLBCL treated with glofitamab as part of the compassionate use patient program in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). The median number of prior treatment lines was four, with 71% of patients having received prior CAR-T therapy, and 71% being refractory to their last treatment. Cytokine release syndrome (CRS) was observed in 40% of patients (grade 3-4 in 2%), immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS) in 10% (grade 3 in 1%), and infections in 31% (grade 5 in 3%). The overall response rate was 47%, with 27% achieving complete responses (CR) and 20% partial responses (PR). The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 3.6 months, while the median overall survival (OS) was 5.7 months. Notably, 13 patients (19%) were in CR 6 months after initiation of glofitamab and exhibited durable responses. Elevated LDH is the most robust predictor of inferior outcome. Patients pretreated with bendamustine within 6 months prior glofitamab initiation exhibited significantly reduced PFS, suggesting that bendamustine may impair T-cell fitness and hence glofitamab efficacy. In summary, glofitamab demonstrates promising efficacy and a manageable safety profile in heavily pretreated r/r DLBCL patients in the real-world scenario and the optimal sequence of treatments should use T-cell-depleting agents before glofitamab with caution.