Healthcare
AbbVie Announces TEPKINLY® (epcoritamab) in Combination with Lenalidomide and Rituximab is Approved by the European Commission for the Treatment of Relapsed or Refractory Follicular Lymphoma
AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) today announced that the European Commission (EC) granted marketing authorization for TEPKINLY® (epcoritamab) in combination with lenalidomide and rituximab (TEPKINLY + R2) for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) follicular lymphoma (FL). The approval is based on results from the pivotal Phase 3 EPCORE® FL-1 trial, which evaluated fixed-duration TEPKINLY in combination with R2 compared to standard of care R2.
About this update from Abbvie Inc.
NORTH CHICAGO, Ill., July 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) today announced that the European Commission (EC) granted marketing authorization for TEPKINLY® (epcoritamab) in combination with lenalidomide and rituximab (TEPKINLY + R2) for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) follicular lymphoma (FL). The approval is based on results from the pivotal Phase 3 EPCORE® FL-1 trial, which evaluated fixed-duration TEPKINLY in combination with R2 compared to standard of care R2. "Follicular lymphoma is a persistent form of cancer that remains incurable, which means patients need more treatment options. Patients often relapse and experience shorter remissions and have fewer treatment options each time the disease returns," said Catherine Thieblemont, M.D., Ph.D., head of the hemato-oncology department, Paris Cité University, Hôpital Saint-Louis Assistance-Publique-Hopitaux de Paris (APHP) in Paris. "The results shown in the EPCORE FL-1 trial are clinically meaningful, demonstrating the potential for TEPKINLY + R2 to change the treatment paradigm for patients, offering the chance at a durable response with a chemotherapy-free option." The marketing authorization is supported by data from the Phase 3 EPCORE FL-1 trial, an open-label interventional trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of TEPKINLY + R2 compared to R2 alone in patients with R/R FL. The study demonstrated TEPKINLY + R2 reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 79% (HR 0.21, 95% CI: 0.13 - 0.33, p<0.0001) compared to R2 alone. The overall response rate (ORR) in patients treated with TEPKINLY + R2 was 96% (95% CI: 90.2, 98.6) compared to 81% in patients treated with R2 (95% CI: 72.7, 87.7; p<.0001). Among patients who were treated with TEPKINLY + R2, 74% achieved a complete response (CR) (n=181/243, 95% CI: 68.5, 79.8) compared to a 43% CR rate among patients treated with R2 (n=106/245, 95% CI: 37.0, 49.7). The safety profile of TEPKINLY + R2 in the EPCORE FL-1 study was consistent with the known safety profiles of the individual regimens (epcoritamab and R2). In the trial, the most common (≥ 20%) adverse reactions were neutropenia, rash, upper respiratory tract infections, fatigue, diarrhea, injection site reactions, anemia, constipation, thrombocytopenia, cytokine release syndrome (CRS), hypogammaglobu...