Hi, my name is Josh Brody. I run the Lymphoma Immunotherapy Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. I’m very excited to be here at the 2025 ASH Annual Meeting. There have been a lot of new updates—things that could really help our patients in the near term. Some of these approaches are more effective than older therapies and are safe, which is a real win-win.
One example I want to share is an update from a trial we’ve described before, combining standard chemotherapy for relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma—GemOx—with an immunotherapy. GemOx is a standard regimen, but its complete remission rates are low, around 25%, meaning three out of four patients do not achieve the results we need.
Our approach adds a bispecific antibody called epcoritamab to GemOx. This antibody binds both lymphoma cells and T cells, activating the T cells to attack the cancer. Epcoritamab is already approved as a third-line therapy for DLBCL, but our study aimed to see if combining it with chemotherapy could improve outcomes.
The results are remarkable. The complete remission rate increased from the historical 25% with GemOx alone to 60% with epcoritamab plus GemOx. Most patients achieved complete remission, and the safety profile was manageable. GemOx does have side effects, including neuropathy, cytopenias, and infections, but adding epcoritamab didn’t significantly increase risks.
With more than two years of follow-up, many patients remain in complete remission. Traditionally, frontline aggressive lymphoma is curable about 60% of the time, second-line may be curable with auto-transplant or CAR-T in 30–50% of cases, and later lines were considered mostly incurable. But that’s not entirely true—the disease is potentially curable, and our job is to find the cure.
While I can’t guarantee outcomes yet, the data are very promising. Many patients in complete remission for years are likely on the path to cure. Durable, complete remission is currently our best measure of potential cure.
It’s gratifying to share this update with the larger community at ASH. We’re very optimistic that this approach will have a significant and immediate impact for patients.
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HealthTree • December 16, 2025