Pralatrexate in Chinese Patients with Relapsed or Refractory Peripheral T-cell Lymphoma: A Single-arm, Multicenter Study.

BACKGROUND: Peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) is associated with poor prognosis, particularly in patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) disease. Pralatrexate, a folate analogue inhibitor, was the first drug approved to treat R/R PTCL. OBJECTIVE: As the distribution of PTCL subtypes differs between populations and few patients in the pivotal trial of pralatrexate were Asian, this study investigated the safety and efficacy of pralatrexate as monotherapy in Chinese patients with R/R PTCL. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this single-arm, open-label, multicenter study, 71 patients with R/R PTCL (median [range] 2 [1-14] prior systemic treatments) were recruited from 15 centers in China and received pralatrexate IV 30 mg/m2/week for 6 weeks in 7-week cycles (with vitamin B12/folate). The primary endpoint was objective response rate (ORR) per central review (null hypothesis: ORR < 15%). RESULTS: The study's primary objective was met: ORR (95% CI) was 52% (40-64%) (p < 0.001) and responses were observed across pre-specified patient subgroups. Median (95% CI) duration of response was 8.7 (3.3-14.1) months and first response was observed in Cycle 1 for most (84%) patients. Median (95% CI) progression-free survival and overall survival was 4.8 (3.1-8.1) months and 18.0 (10.4-NA) months, respectively. The most common treatment-emergent adverse events were stomatitis (68% [Grade 3/4: 20%]), anemia (49% [Grade 3/4: 24%]) and alanine aminotransferase increase (41% [Grade 3/4: 4%]). CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that pralatrexate may represent a promising treatment option for Chinese patients with R/R PTCL. The ORR of 52% compared favorably with prior studies of pralatrexate in other populations and there were no unanticipated side effects. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03349333.

Modified-release prednisone for polymyalgia rheumatica: a multicentre, randomised, active-controlled, double-blind, parallel-group study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy and safety of modified-release (MR) versus immediate-release (IR) prednisone in newly diagnosed glucocorticoid (GC)-naïve patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). METHODS: Patients were randomised to double-blind MR prednisone (taken at approximately 22:00) or IR prednisone (taken in the morning), 15 mg/day for 4 weeks. The primary end point was complete response rate (≥70% reduction in PMR visual analogue scale, duration of morning stiffness and C reactive protein (CRP) (or CRP <2× upper limit of normal (ULN))) at week 4. Non-inferiority was decided if the lower 95% confidence limit (MR vs IR prednisone) was above -15%. 400 patients were planned but only 62 were enrolled due to difficulties in recruiting GC-naïve patients with PMR with CRP ≥2×ULN. RESULTS: The percentage of complete responders at week 4 was numerically greater for MR prednisone (53.8%) than for IR prednisone (40.9%). Non-inferiority of MR versus IR prednisone was not proven in the primary analysis on the per protocol population (N=48; treatment difference: 12.22%; 95% CI -15.82% to 40.25%). However, sensitivity analysis on the full analysis population showed an evident trend favouring MR prednisone (N=62; treatment difference: 15.56%; 95% CI -9.16% to 40.28%). Adverse events were generally mild and transient with no unexpected safety observations. CONCLUSIONS: The study showed a clear trend for favourable short-term efficacy of MR prednisone versus IR prednisone in early treatment of PMR. Further studies are warranted. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: EudraCT number 2011-002353-57; Results.