Rituximab maintenance versus observation alone in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia who respond to first-line or second-line rituximab-containing chemoimmunotherapy: final results of the AGMT CLL-8a Mabtenance randomised trial
Abstract
Background: In many patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia requiring treatment, induction therapy with rituximab plus chemotherapy improves outcomes compared with chemotherapy alone. In this study we aimed to investigate the potential of rituximab maintenance therapy to prolong disease control in patients who respond to rituximab-containing induction regimens.
Methods: In this randomised, international, multicentre, open-label, phase 3 clinical trial, we enrolled patients who had achieved a complete response (CR), CR with incomplete bone marrow recovery (CRi), or partial response (PR) to first-line or second-line rituximab-containing chemoimmunotherapy and randomly assigned them in a 1:1 ratio (central block randomisation in the electronic case report form system) to either intravenous rituximab 375 mg/m2 every 3 months, or observation alone, for 2 years. Stratification was by country, line of treatment, type of chemotherapy added to the rituximab backbone, and degree of remission following induction.
The primary endpoint was progression-free survival. Efficacy analysis was done in the intention-to-treat population.
This is the final, event-triggered analysis. Final analysis was triggered by the occurrence of 92 events.
This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01118234.