Calvary Mater Newcastle is one of the principal recruitment centres for the clinical trial initiated by the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne.

Patients aged 18 to 65 years displaying clinical features or having a genetic test result indicating “high risk” cancer not responsive to, or relapsing after standard therapies, were enrolled in the COALITION trial.

All patients received one of two standard treatment regimes, either “R-CHOP” or “Pola-R-CHP”*. This Phase II trial assessed safety and efficacy of adding the drug glofitamab to each of these regimes.

Glofitamab is a type of antibody treatment which helps the immune system attack lymphoma cells, and a benefit of this type of drug is that it can be used alongside, and potentially improve outcomes of, chemotherapy-based treatments.

Of the 80 patients in the trial, more than 95 per cent completed the therapy (either R-CHOP or Pola-R-CHP plus glofitamab) and 98 per cent recorded a “complete response”; meaning their blood cancers became undetectable on the most sensitive of scans.

There were no major new toxicities observed and side effects were considered manageable. At follow-up almost two years later (median follow-up 21 months), progression-free and overall survival rates were 86 per cent and 92 per cent respectively.

Calvary Mater Newcastle Director of Health Research, Dr Wojt Janowski, said the hospital’s role in the collaborative study highlighted its commitment to advancing cancer care through clinical research.

"The results of this trial mark an important milestone that could transform the standard of care for patients receiving lymphoma treatment. It is exciting to see that the Phase III randomised studies of this treatment are now underway."

The COALITION trial involved patients at 15 Australian sites including Calvary Mater Newcastle and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

The results were recently published in the world’s peak cancer journal: The Journal of Clinical Oncology, in a paper titled “Glofitamab combined with Pola-R-CHP or R-CHOP as first therapy in younger patients with high-risk Large B Cell Lymphoma: Results from the COALITION study”.

Calvary Mater Newcastle General Manager, Roslyn Everingham, said the hospital had a long-standing and strong commitment to instigating, supporting and delivering cutting-edge research.

“As the primary centre for cancer clinical trials in the Hunter, Calvary Mater Newcastle continues to collaborate with leading local, national, and international research partners to drive innovation and improve patient care,” Ms Everingham said.

Note: *R-CHOP is a common chemotherapy-based treatment that includes five drugs: rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone. Pola-R-CHP is similar but swaps vincristine for polatuzumab vedotin.