Neoadjuvant PD-1 and LAG-3-targeting bispecific antibody and other immune checkpoint inhibitor combinations in resectable melanoma: the randomized phase 1b/2 Morpheus-Melanoma trial
Georgina V. Long, Nitya Nair, Daniel Marbach, Richard A. Scolyer, Sabine Wilson, Denise Cotting, Nicolas Städler, Rodabe N. Amaria, Paolo A. Ascierto, Ahmad A. Tarhini, Caroline Robert, Omid Hamid, Caroline Gaudy‐Marqueste, Célèste Lebbé, Eva Muñoz‐Couselo, Alexander M. Menzies, Cécile Pagès, Giuseppe Curigliano, Mario Mandalà, Nikki Jessop, Uwe Bader, Maurizio Perdicchio, Volker Teichgräber, Merlind Muecke, Christoph Markert, Christian U. Blank
Abstract
Abstract Patients with stage III melanoma are at high risk of relapse. The NADINA trial evaluating neoadjuvant nivolumab plus ipilimumab and the SWOG-1801 trial evaluating neoadjuvant pembrolizumab have demonstrated superior clinical outcomes with neoadjuvant versus adjuvant checkpoint inhibition. Morpheus-Melanoma was a phase 1b/2, randomized umbrella trial evaluating tobemstomig (anti-PD-1/anti-LAG-3 bispecific antibody; n = 40), tobemstomig plus tiragolumab (anti-TIGIT monoclonal antibody; n = 20) and atezolizumab (PD-L1-targeting monoclonal antibody) plus tiragolumab ( n = 20) versus nivolumab (anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody) plus ipilimumab (anti-CTLA-4 monoclonal antibody; n = 22) in stage III melanoma. The primary endpoint was pathological response by independent pathological review. Additional endpoints included safety and exploratory biomarkers. Here tobemstomig showed a similar pathological response rate (pRR) versus nivolumab plus ipilimumab (80.0% (32/40) versus 77.3% (17/22)); major pathological responses were less frequent with tobemstomig versus nivolumab plus ipilimumab treatment (62.5% (25/40) versus 72.7% (16/22)). Tobemstomig plus tiragolumab and atezolizumab plus tiragolumab showed a lower pRR versus nivolumab plus ipilimumab (60.0% (12/20) and 45.0% (9/20) versus 77.3% (17/22), respectively). Tobemstomig demonstrated improved safety versus nivolumab plus ipilimumab, with 2.5% (1/40) and 22.7% (5/22) of patients experiencing grade 3 or higher treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs), respectively, and 0% (0/40) and 13.6% (3/22) of patients discontinuing treatment due to TRAEs, respectively. Grade 3 or higher TRAEs were reported by 15% (3/20) of patients in the tobemstomig plus tiragolumab arm and by no patients in the atezolizumab plus tiragolumab arm. Baseline CD8 + and CD3 + tumor-infiltrating T cell density, IFNγ pathway and effector T cell gene expression, tumor mutational burden and pre-surgery circulating tumor DNA correlated with pathological response across treatments. In conclusion, in the Morpheus-Melanoma study, tobemstomig demonstrated a similar pathological response and improved safety profile versus nivolumab plus ipilimumab in patients with resectable stage III melanoma. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT05116202 .