BASEL, Switzerland & BEIJING & CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BeiGene, Ltd. (Nasdaq: BGNE; HKEX: 06160; SSE: 688235), a global biotechnology company, today announced that the European Commission (EC) has granted marketing authorization for BRUKINSA® (zanubrutinib) in combination with obinutuzumab for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) follicular lymphoma (FL) who have received at least two prior lines of systemic therapy. This marks the fourth indication in the European Union (EU) for BRUKINSA, which is now approved to treat more patient populations in the EU than any other Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor.
“With this approval, we are excited to announce that BRUKINSA will become available as a treatment option for patients with follicular lymphoma in the European Union. BRUKINSA is now the first BTK inhibitor approved in this indication and has the broadest label of any medicine in its class globally,” said Mehrdad Mobasher, M.D., M.P.H., Chief Medical Officer, Hematology at BeiGene. “This milestone marks a significant advancement in our efforts to combat the disease by providing a new and effective treatment option to patients who have either failed to respond to initial therapies or have experienced a relapse.”
The EC approval is based on positive results from ROSEWOOD (NCT03332017), a global, randomized, open-label Phase 2 study of BRUKINSA plus obinutuzumab compared with obinutuzumab alone in 217 patients with R/R FL who received at least two prior lines of systemic therapy. In the study, the overall response rate was 69.0% in the BRUKINSA plus obinutuzumab arm versus 45.8% in the obinutuzumab arm (P = 0.0012), with a median follow-up of approximately 20 months. Responses were durable with 18-month landmark duration of response (DOR) of 69.3% in the BRUKINSA combination arm.
Additionally, the median progression-free survival (PFS) for patients treated with BRUKINSA plus obinutuzumab was 28.0 months, compared to 10.4 months for patients treated with only obinutuzumab (HR: 0.50 [95% CI: 0.33, 0.75]; P = 0.0007).
BRUKINSA plus obinutuzumab was generally well-tolerated, with safety results consistent with previous studies of both medicines.
“People living with follicular lymphoma often experience relapse and have poor responses to subsequent lines of therapy, making it imperative to improve outcomes,” said Pier Luigi Zinzani, M.D., Ph.D., Full Professor of Haematology at the Institute of Haematology “Seràgnoli,” University of Bologna, Italy. “The results from the ROSEWOOD trial demonstrated a significant clinical benefit of BRUKINSA plus obinutuzumab for patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma. BRUKINSA is a chemotherapy-free, oral treatment option that can be a practice-changing option for eligible patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma.”
In addition to R/R FL, BRUKINSA is approved in the EU as monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, for adult patients with marginal zone lymphoma who have received at least one prior anti-CD20-based therapy, and for adult patients with Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia who have received at least one prior therapy, or in first-line treatment for patients unsuitable for chemo-immunotherapy.
Gerwin Winter, Senior Vice President, Head of Europe at BeiGene noted, “We have made great progress in making BRUKINSA available to eligible patients with hematological malignancies globally, and this approval is a testament to our continued commitment to bring this much needed treatment option to patients in Europe and around the world. We hope that this approval will have a positive impact on the lives of many people living with follicular lymphoma in the European Union and their families.”
BeiGene currently has submissions for BRUKINSA in R/R FL under review by regulatory authorities including in the United States (U.S.) and China. Additionally, BeiGene’s submission for BRUKINSA in R/R FL is under review by regulatory authorities in Canada, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom as part of the Access Consortium New Active Substance Work-sharing Initiative (NASWSI).
BRUKINSA is approved in more than 65 markets, including the U.S., China, EU, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, South Korea, and Switzerland in selected indications and under development for additional indications globally. Product information may differ from country to country. Prescribers should consult the product information approved in their respective countries. The global BRUKINSA development program includes more than 5,000 subjects enrolled to date in 29 countries and regions.
The Summary of Product Characteristics for BRUKINSA can be found here: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/product-information/brukinsa-epar-product-information_en.pdf
About Follicular Lymphoma
FL is the second most common type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), accounting for 22 percent of all NHL cases.i Across Europe, over 122,000 people each year are diagnosed with NHL.ii FL is a slow-growing cancer but can become more aggressive over time. While FL remains incurable, people with the condition can live a long time. The five-year survival rate is about 90 percent, and approximately half of people diagnosed with FL can live with the disease for nearly 20 years.iii,iv
About BRUKINSA® (zanubrutinib)
BRUKINSA is a small molecule inhibitor of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) discovered by BeiGene scientists that is currently being evaluated globally in a broad clinical program as a monotherapy and in combination with other therapies to treat various B-cell malignancies. Because new BTK is continuously synthesized, BRUKINSA was specifically designed to deliver complete and sustained inhibition of the BTK protein by optimizing bioavailability, half-life, and selectivity. With differentiated pharmacokinetics compared to other approved BTK inhibitors, BRUKINSA has been demonstrated to inhibit the proliferation of malignant B cells within a number of disease relevant tissues.
About BeiGene
BeiGene is a global biotechnology company that is discovering and developing innovative oncology treatments that are more affordable and accessible to cancer patients worldwide. With a broad portfolio, we are expediting development of our diverse pipeline of novel therapeutics through our internal capabilities and collaborations. We are committed to radically improving access to medicines for far more patients who need them. Our growing global team of more than 10,000 colleagues spans five continents, with administrative offices in Basel, Beijing, and Cambridge, U.S. To learn more about BeiGene, please visit www.beigene.com and follow us on LinkedIn and X (formerly known as Twitter).
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal securities laws, including statements regarding BeiGene’s ability to provide effective treatment options to patients with FL; whether BRUKINSA is a practice-changing option for eligible patients; the effect, if any, that the EC approval of BRUKINSA for R/R FL will have on people living with R/R FL and their families; BeiGene’s advancement, anticipated clinical development, regulatory submissions and commercialization of zanubrutinib, particularly as a treatment for R/R FL; and BeiGene’s plans, commitments, aspirations, and goals under the heading “About BeiGene.” Actual results may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including BeiGene's ability to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of its drug candidates; the clinical results for its drug candidates, which may not support further development or marketing approval; actions of regulatory agencies, which may affect the initiation, timing and progress of clinical trials and marketing approval; BeiGene's ability to achieve commercial success for its marketed medicines and drug candidates, if approved; BeiGene's ability to obtain and maintain protection of intellectual property for its medicines and technology; BeiGene's reliance on third parties to conduct drug development, manufacturing, commercialization, and other services; BeiGene’s limited experience in obtaining regulatory approvals and commercializing pharmaceutical products and its ability to obtain additional funding for operations and to complete the development of its drug candidates and achieve and maintain profitability; and those risks more fully discussed in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in BeiGene’s most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q, as well as discussions of potential risks, uncertainties, and other important factors in BeiGene's subsequent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All information in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and BeiGene undertakes no duty to update such information unless required by law.
References
iLeukemia & Lymphoma Society. Treatment for Indolent NHL Subtypes. Available at: https://www.lls.org/lymphoma/non-hodgkin-lymphoma/nhl-subtypes/treatment-indolent-nhl-subtypes. |
iiWorld Health Organization. Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. Available at: https://gco.iarc.fr/today/data/factsheets/cancers/34-Non-hodgkin-lymphoma-fact-sheet.pdf. |
iiiAmerican Cancer Society. Survival Rates and Factors That Affect Prognosis (Outlook) for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. Available at: https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/non-hodgkin-lymphoma/detection-diagnosis-staging/factors-prognosis. |
ivCartron G and Trotman J. Time for an Individualized Approach to First-Line Management of Follicular Lymphoma. Haematologica. 2022;107(1):7-18. |
