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The bispecific therapeutic antibody blinatumomab links CD3+ cytotoxic T-cells to CD19+ B-cells, including B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) blasts.
Now, investigators have conducted an industry-sponsored, multicenter phase III trial in which 405 adults with relapsed or refractory B-ALL were randomized 2:1 to receive blinatumomab or standard-of-care salvage chemotherapy. Responding patients could receive consolidation and maintenance therapy or proceed to allogeneic stem-cell transplantation (SCT). One third of all patients had failed prior allogeneic SCT.
Overall survival (the primary endpoint) was significantly improved with blinatumomab versus chemotherapy (7.7 vs. 4.0 months; P=0.01), as was the rate of complete remission by week 1…