Prevention and Management of Daratumumab Mediated Infusion Related Hypersensitivity Reactions Pre-and Post-Implementation of Rapid Infusion Protocol

Background:

Multiple Myeloma (MM) is defined as a clonal proliferation of malignant bone marrow plasma cells with high and uniform expression of CD 38 (Kumar et al, J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2019; 3 and Lin et al, Am J Clin Pathol. 2004; 121:482-488). Daratumumab, a human IgGk monoclonal antibody, targets and binds to CD38, induces antibody dependent cell mediated cytotoxicity, complement activation, and antibody mediated phagocytosis (Prescribing information. Daratumumab; Janssen Biotech, Inc 2016).

Daratumumab is associated with infusion related reactions (IRRs), which present with symptoms of rhinitis, cough, dyspnea, bronchospasm, chills and nausea. In two phase 3 trials, CASTOR (Palumbo et al, N Engl J Med. 2016; 375:754-66) and POLLUX (Dimopolous et al, N Engl J Med. 2016; 375(14):1319-31), IRRs occurred in 45% and 48% of patients, respectively. Of these, 98% and 96%, respectively, occurred during the first infusion. Grade 3 IRRs occurred in 5.3% and 8.6% of patients in CASTOR and POLLUX, respectively. No grade 4 IRRs were observed in either trial. Standard of care includes extended infusion times for the first, second, and subsequent infusions with a three-drug pre-infusion prophylaxis strategy including diphenhydramine, dexamethasone or methylprednisolone, and acetaminophen with slow prolonged infusion times is recommended(Bhatnagar et al, Oncologist. 2017; 22:1347-53).

A single-arm safety study of accelerated infusion rate indicate that administering daratumumab using a time-saving 90-minute infusion protocol can be safe. Of 28 patients treated with accelerated daratumumab infusion during their third and subsequent infusions, no IRRs were observed, and there was only one mild reaction with no further reactions during subsequent infusions at the 90-minute rate (Barr et al, Leukemia. Mar. 2018). Subsequently, a similar protocol for all daratumumab infusions was implemented at The Johns Hopkins Health System including five premedications and three medications (5+3) during the first two infusions. Premedication can be eliminated for lack of tolerance.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and success of rapid daratumumab administration in clinical practice based on infusion times, IRRs prophylaxis medication administration, IRRs frequency, and management of IRRs in the ambulatory setting of the Johns Hopkins Health System, pre- and post-implementation of the 90-minute infusion protocol using a more robust premedication regimen (5+3) than previously published.

Study Design and Methods:

This study is approved by the institutional review board at The Johns Hopkins Hospital (IRB 00195519). This is a retrospective, chart review of daratumumab infusions prior to implementing the accelerated infusion rate. The inclusion criterion was adult patients who received daratumumab infusion in the ambulatory infusion clinic July 1, 2016 to May 25, 2018 for pre-implementation and July 1 2018 to June 30 2019 for the post-implementation period. Patients who only received inpatient administration of daratumumab were excluded due to limited infusion related documentation. The primary endpoint is the proportion of patients who experienced IRRs after daratumumab infusion. Secondary endpoints include proportion of patients with grade 1/2 or grade 3/4 IRRs, infusion duration (hours), and the number of pre and post infusion prophylaxis medications given. Other data collected will include but not limited to demographics, prior history of anaphylaxis, eczema, asthma, or other drug allergies to identify risk factors not previously defined.

Results:

Data collection and analysis are ongoing. The sample size for pre-implementation of rapid infusion is ninety-three patients. Documented IRRs occurred in 18 (19%) patients. The mean infusion time was 7.4 hours for first infusions (n=70), 8 hours for patients with IRRs in the first infusion (n=18) and 7.1 hours for patients without IRRs in the first infusion (n=52). The mean number of IRR prophylaxis medications given was 7.8 (range 2-9) for first or second infusions. All IRRs documented were grade 1 or 2. Additional data analysis will include descriptive statistics as well as comparison of infusion duration, and will use paired t-test within samples and student t-test across different samples. Final results will report safety of daratumumab rapid infusion in largest single center patient population to date.