WASHINGTON, (June 26, 2025) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved tafasitamab-Cxix (Monjuvi®) for use in combination with rituximab and lenalidomide to treat follicular lymphoma that has returned or worsened despite earlier treatment. This recent approval expands the use of tafasitamab-cxix beyond its previous indication for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).
In the inMIND clinical trial, patients who received the three-drug combination therapy had a median progression-free survival time of 22.4 months compared to 13.9 months for those who received rituximab and lenalidomide alone. Progression-free survival measures the amount of time patients live without their cancer getting worse.
“Every extra month we can keep cancer in check matters,” says Lore Gruenbaum, Ph.D., LLS Chief Scientific Officer. “These types of combination therapies are one way we are outsmarting cancer, attacking it from several angles simultaneously. Cancer uses multiple pathways to survive and can find ways to evade individual treatments.”
Tafasitamab works by binding to a protein called CD19, while rituximab binds to a protein called CD20. By binding to these proteins on follicular lymphoma cells, these drugs help the immune system destroy them. Lenalidomide works via several mechanisms acting directly on cancer cells to prevent them from dividing and inducing cell death and also by stimulating the immune system to attack cancer cells.
LLS is dedicated to a world without follicular lymphoma and all blood cancers
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) provides research funding support for every type of blood cancer. In partnership with the Institute for Follicular Lymphoma earlier this month, LLS announced new grants to create a path to more personalized treatments and eventually cures for people with follicular lymphoma.
LLS’s work to improve outcomes for follicular lymphoma and all forms of blood cancer is part of our bold goal to enable blood cancer patients to gain an additional one million years of life by 2040. This is in addition to the tens of millions of years of life already gained thanks to years of treatment research success, as well as work to improve access to the best treatments for every blood cancer patient.
Read more from LLS President and CEO Dr. Andy Kolb about why LLS’s bold goal matters and how we’re going to get there.
If you or a loved one need personalized disease, treatment or support information, you can contact one of our Information Specialists: https://www.lls.org/support-resources/information-specialists