A RANDOMIZED PHASE 3 TRIAL OF ZANUBRUTINIB VERSUS IBRUTINIB IN SYMPTOMATIC WALDENSTRÖM MACROGLOBULINEMIA:THE ASPEN STUDY.

Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibition is an effective treatment approach for patients with Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia (WM). The phase 3 ASPEN study compared the efficacy and safety of ibrutinib, a first-generation BTK inhibitor, with zanubrutinib, a novel, highly selective BTK inhibitor, in patients with WM. Patients with MYD88L265P disease were randomly assigned 1:1 to treatment with either ibrutinib or zanubrutinib. The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients achieving a complete or very good partial response (CR or VGPR) by independent review. Key secondary endpoints included major response rate (MRR), progression-free survival (PFS), duration of response (DOR), disease burden, and safety. A total of 201 patients were randomized, and 199 received ≥1 dose of study treatment. No patient achieved a CR. Twenty-nine (28%) zanubrutinib and 19 (19%) ibrutinib patients achieved a VGPR, a non-statistically significant difference (P = .09). MRRs were 77% and 78% , respectively. Median DOR and PFS were not reached; 84% and 85% of ibrutinib and zanubrutinib patients were progression-free at 18 months. Incidence of atrial fibrillation, contusion, diarrhea, peripheral edema, hemorrhage, muscle spasms, and pneumonia, as well as adverse events leading to treatment discontinuation, were all lower among zanubrutinib recipients. Incidence of neutropenia was higher with zanubrutinib, although grade ≥3 infection rates were similar in both arms (1.2 and 1.1 events/100 person-months). These results demonstrate that zanubrutinib and ibrutinib are highly effective in the treatment of WM, but zanubrutinib treatment was associated with a trend toward better response quality and less toxicity, particularly cardiovascular toxicity.