Multicenter phase 1 study of zilovertamab vedotin for lymphoid cancers

Receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 1 (ROR1) is an oncofetal protein present on many cancers. Zilovertamab vedotin (ZV) is an antibody-drug conjugate comprising a monoclonal antibody recognizing extracellular ROR1, a cleavable linker, and the anti-microtubule cytotoxin monomethyl aurastatin E. A multicenter phase 1 study in the USA found no unexpected toxicities and evidence of antitumor activity of ZV for heavily pretreated mantle cell lymphoma (ORR 47%; 4 partial and 2 complete responses) and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (ORR 60%; 1 partial and 2 complete responses).