Tisagenlecleucel in Adult Patients With Aggressive B-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

Inclusion Criteria

• Histologically confirmed, aggressive B-cell NHL at relapse/progression or PR after front line therapy. Aggressive B-cell NHL is heretofore defined by the following list of subtypes (Swerdlow et al 2016):
• DLBCL, NOS,
• FL grade 3B,
• Primary mediastinal large B cell lymphoma (PMBCL),
• T cell rich/histiocyte rich large B cell lymphoma (T/HRBCL),
• DLBCL associated with chronic inflammation,
• Intravascular large B-cell lymphoma,
• ALK+ large B-cell lymphoma,
• B-cell lymphoma, unclassifiable, (with features intermediate between DLBCL and classical Hodgkin's Lymphoma (HL)),
• High grade B-cell lymphoma with MYC and BCL2 and/or BCL6 rearrangements,
• High-grade B-cell lymphoma, NOS
• HHV8+ DLBCL, NOS
• DLBCL transforming from follicular lymphoma
• DLBCL transforming from marginal zone lymphoma
• DLBCL, leg type
• Relapse or progression within 365 days from last dose of anti CD20 antibody and anthracycline containing first line immunochemotherapy or refractory (have not achieved a CR).
• Patient is considered eligible for autologous HSCT as per local investigator assessment. Note: Intention to transplant and type of high dose chemotherapy (HDCT) regimen will be documented at the time of study entry
• Disease that is both active on PET scan (defined as 5-Deauville scorepoint-scale of 4 or 5) and measurable on CT scan, defined as::
• Nodal lesions >15 mm in the long axis, regardless of the length of the short axis, and/or
• Extranodal lesions (outside lymph node or nodal mass, but including liver and spleen) >10 mm in long AND short axis
• Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 0 or 1
• Adequate organ function:

Renal function defined as:

• Serum creatinine of ≤1.5 x upper limit of normal (ULN), OR estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) ≥ 60 mL/min/1.73 m2

Hepatic function defined as:

• Alanine Transaminase (ALT) and Aspartate Transiminase (AST) ≤ 5 × ULN
• Total bilirubin ≤ 1.5 x ULN with the exception of patients with Gilbert syndrome who may be included if their total bilirubin is ≤3.0 × ULN and direct bilirubin ≤1.5 × ULN

Hematologic Function (regardless of transfusions) defined as:

• Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) >1000/mm3
• Absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) >300/mm3 OR Absolute number of CD3+ T cells >150/mm3 (only for patients with non-historical apheresis)
• Platelets ≥50000/mm3
• Hemoglobin >8.0 g/dl

Adequate pulmonary function defined as:

• No or mild dyspnea (≤ Grade 1)
• Oxygen saturation measured by pulse oximetry > 90% on room air
• Forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) ≥ 50% and/or carbon monoxide diffusion test (DLCO) ≥50% of predicted level - Must have a leukapheresis material of non-mobilized cells available for manufacturing.

Exclusion Criteria

• Prior treatment with anti-CD19 therapy, T cell therapy, or any prior gene therapy product
• Treatment with any systemic lymphoma-directed second line anticancer therapy prior to randomization. Only steroids and local irradiation are permitted for disease control
• Patients with active central nervous system (CNS) involvement by disease under study are excluded, except if the CNS involvement has been effectively treated and local treatment was >4 weeks before randomization
• Prior allogeneic HSCT
• Clinically significant active infection
• Any of the following cardiovascular conditions:
• Unstable angina, myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), or stroke within 6 months prior to screening,
• Left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF) <45% as determined by echocardiogram (ECHO) or magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) or multigated acquisition (MUGA) at the screening assessment.
• New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class III or IV (Chavey et al 2001), within the past 12 months.
• Clinically significant cardiac arrhythmias (e.g., ventricular tachycardia), complete left bundle branch block, high-grade atrioventricular (AV) block (e.g., bifascicular block, Mobitz type II) and third degr