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IMMUNOTHERAPY

Outcomes of frailty subgroups of older adults (age ≥ 70) treated with teclistamab: an International Myeloma Foundation immunotherapy database real-world analysis

Leukemia volume 39, pages 1252–1255 (2025)Cite this article

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Teclistamab, BCMA bispecific antibody (BsAb), was approved based upon the MajesTEC-1 study [1] with an overall response rate (ORR) of 63% and a median progression-free survival (PFS) of 11.3 months. In MajesTEC-1, the median age was 64 years, and patients with Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS) ≥ 2 were excluded, suggesting that the vast majority of patients were fit. This has lead to a paucity of data both in clinical trials as well as in the real-world regarding the outcomes of older adults treated with BsAbs. We performed a retrospective analysis to understand the outcomes of older adults (age ≥ 70) including frail patients treated in the real-world with teclistamab.

This is was an multicenter retrospective study of patients with relapsed and/or refractory MM enrolled in the International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) immunotherapy database and treated with teclistamab at 7 academic centers across 5 countries between May 2022-Dec 2023. This study received approval from the Institutional Review Boards of the respective participating institutions and inidivdual patients were consented in accordance. Frailty categorization was done using the simplified frailty index and patients categorized as fit (score 0-1) or frail (≥ score 2) [2].

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Fig. 1: Outcomes of fit and frail patients treated with teclistamab.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the IMF immunotherapy database but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under for the current study, and so are not publicly available. Data are however available from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission of IMF immunotherapy database.

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Acknowledgements

CT is supported by the Memorial Sloan Kettering NIH/NCI Cancer Center Support Grant (P30 CA008748). RP is supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada

    Hira Mian & Gregory R. Pond

  2. University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Thomas G. Martin & Sireesha Asoori

  3. University College London, London, UK

    Rakesh Popat & Kwee Yong

  4. Department of Clinical Therapeutics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Medicine, Athens, Greece

    Efstathios Kastritis & Meletios A. Dimopoulos

  5. University of Complutense, Hospital 12 de Octubre, CNIO, i+12, Madrid, Spain

    Joaquin Martinez-Lopez

  6. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

    Nadine Abdallah & Yi Lin

  7. Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, AZ, USA

    Saurabh Chhabra

  8. Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA

    Ricardo Parrondo & Sikander Ailawadhi

  9. International Myeloma Foundation, Study City, CA, USA

    Brian GM. Durie

  10. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Saad Z. Usmani & Carlyn Rose Tan

Authors
  1. Hira Mian
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  2. Thomas G. Martin
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  3. Gregory R. Pond
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  4. Sireesha Asoori
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  5. Rakesh Popat
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  6. Efstathios Kastritis
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  7. Joaquin Martinez-Lopez
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  8. Nadine Abdallah
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  9. Saurabh Chhabra
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  10. Ricardo Parrondo
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  11. Sikander Ailawadhi
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  12. Meletios A. Dimopoulos
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  13. Kwee Yong
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  14. Brian GM. Durie
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  15. Saad Z. Usmani
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  16. Yi Lin
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  17. Carlyn Rose Tan
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Contributions

H Mian, C Tan, T Martin were responsible for designing the protocol, writing the protocol and interpreting the results. Data was provided by each site including S Asoori, R Popat, E Kastritis, J Martinez-Lopez, N Abdallah, S Chhabra, R Parrondo, S Ailawadhi, M Dimopoulos, K Yong. G Pond conducted the statistical analysis. H Mian and C Tan wrote the manuscript draft. T Martin, S Usmani, B Durie and Y Lin provided feedback on results, and edited the manuscript draft.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Hira Mian or Carlyn Rose Tan.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from all participants and this this study received approval from the Institutional Review Boards of the respective participating institutions including the Hamilton Integrated Research Ethics Board (# 16667) in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. All methods were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations.

Competing interests

- Mian: Research funding (Janssen, Pfizer), Honoraria/Advisory Board Janssen/J&J, GSK, Sanofi, Pfizer, Takeda, AbbVie. - Martin: Research funding (Sanofi, Janssen, Amgen, BMS); consultant – GSK, Roche, Pfizer. - Pond: Honoraria: Takeda, Consultancy: Astra-Zeneca, Merck, Profound Medical and Traferox, Equity Holding: Roche. - Asoori: None. - Popat: Research funding: Pfizer, GSK; consultant: Roche, GSK; honoraria: J&J, AbbVie, BMS, Pfizer, GSK. - Kastritis: honoraria from Janssen/J&J, GSK, Sanofi, Pfizer; institutional research funding Janssen/J&J, GSK, Pfizer. - Martinez-Lopez:Research funding: BMS, Pfizer and Astellas Consulting: Amgen, BMS, Gilead, GSK, Johnson and Johnson, Oncopeptides, Menarini, Sanofi, Roche and Novartis. - Chhabra: honoraria from Sanofi, Sobi, Ascentage Pharma; institutional research funding from Abbvie, C4 therapeutics, Carsgen, Takeda, Johnson & Johnson. - Abdallah: None. -Parrondo: Research funding (GSK, Bristol Myers Squibb foundation); Consultant (Astra Zeneca, Sanofi Aventis). - Ailawadhi: Research funding to institution: GSK, BMS, Pharmacyclics, Amgen, Sanofi, Janssen, Cellectar, Xencor, Abbvie, Ascentage. Consultancy: GSK, Sanofi, BMS, Takeda, Beigene, Regeneron, Pharmacyclics, Amgen, Janssen. - Dimopoulos: Honoraria: Amgen, Takeda, Janssen-Cilag, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Beigene, Sanofi; Consulting or Advisory Role: Amgen, Janssen-Cilag, Takeda, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Beigene,Sanofi. - Yong: Consultancy / ad board for Sanofi, Pfizer, GSK, Amgen; Research funding: Sanofi, BMS. - Durie: None. - Usmani: Research funding: Amgen, Array Biopharma, BMS, Celgene, GSK, Janssen, Merck, Pharmacyclics, Sanofi, Seattle Genetics, SkylineDX, Takeda. Consulting: Abbvie, Amgen, BMS, Celgene, EdoPharma, Genentech, Gilead, GSK, Janssen, Oncopeptides, Sanofi, Seattle Genetics, SecuraBio, SkylineDX, Takeda, TeneoBio. - Lin: Consultancy: Janssen, Legend, Celgene, Sanofi, Bristo-Myers, Regeneron, Genentech, Research Funding: Janssen, Celgene, Bristol-Myers, Advisory Boards: Nexlmmune, Caribou, Pfizer. - Tan: received research funding from Janssen, Sanofi, and Takeda; consultant (Janssen, Sanofi).

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Mian, H., Martin, T.G., Pond, G.R. et al. Outcomes of frailty subgroups of older adults (age ≥ 70) treated with teclistamab: an International Myeloma Foundation immunotherapy database real-world analysis. Leukemia 39, 1252–1255 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-025-02552-3

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