Genmab, AbbVie blood cancer drug combo cuts risk of progression or death in late-stage study (updated)

AbbVie

05/10/2026 23:09

Adds analyst comment in bullet 3
By Sahil  Pandey
Oct 5 (Reuters) - Danish biotech firm Genmab GMAB.CO and US drugmaker AbbVie ABBV.N said on Monday their combination treatment for patients newly diagnosed with a type of lymphoma reduced the risk of disease progression or death in a late-stage study.
US-listed shares of Genmab GMAB.O were up about 1.04% in extended trading. AbbVie's shares were flat.
The study tested epcoritamab in combination with R-CHOP in newly diagnosed patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), the most common type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma
The combination reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 51% in newly diagnosed patients compared with R-CHOP alone, the companies said
Barclays analyst Emily Field said the result was a strong validation of epcoritamab in frontline DLBCL, which represents the largest commercial opportunity for the drug
Epcoritamab, jointly developed by Genmab and AbbVie, is an immune-based therapy that helps the body's T cells attack cancer cells, while R-CHOP is currently offered as the standard treatment for those with DLBCL
The companies said the trial is the first late-stage study of a bispecific antibody combination to significantly improve progression-free survival — how long patients live without their cancer worsening — in first-line DLBCL
They said the combination's safety profile was generally consistent with the known safety profiles of epcoritamab and R-CHOP
Epcoritamab has not yet been approved for patients who have just been diagnosed and have not received prior treatment

 (Reporting by Sahil Pandey in Bengaluru; Editing by Diti Pujara)
 ((Sahil.Pandey@thomsonreuters.com;))