Journal of Hematology & Oncology (Apr 2023)

Passive pre-exposure immunization by tixagevimab/cilgavimab in patients with hematological malignancy and COVID-19: matched-paired analysis in the EPICOVIDEHA registry

  • Francesco Marchesi,
  • Jon Salmanton-García,
  • Caterina Buquicchio,
  • Federico Itri,
  • Caroline Besson,
  • Julio Dávila-Valls,
  • Sonia Martín-Pérez,
  • Luana Fianchi,
  • Laman Rahimli,
  • Giuseppe Tarantini,
  • Federica Irene Grifoni,
  • Mariarita Sciume,
  • Jorge Labrador,
  • Raul Cordoba,
  • Alberto López-García,
  • Nicola S. Fracchiolla,
  • Francesca Farina,
  • Emanuele Ammatuna,
  • Antonella Cingolani,
  • Daniel García-Bordallo,
  • Stefanie K. Gräfe,
  • Yavuz M. Bilgin,
  • Michelina Dargenio,
  • Tomás José González-López,
  • Anna Guidetti,
  • Tobias Lahmer,
  • Esperanza Lavilla-Rubira,
  • Gustavo-Adolfo Méndez,
  • Lucia Prezioso,
  • Martin Schönlein,
  • Jaap Van Doesum,
  • Dominik Wolf,
  • Ditte Stampe Hersby,
  • Ferenc Magyari,
  • Jens Van Praet,
  • Verena Petzer,
  • Carlo Tascini,
  • Iker Falces-Romero,
  • Andreas Glenthøj,
  • Oliver A. Cornely,
  • Livio Pagano

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13045-023-01423-7
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16, no. 1
pp. 1 – 5

Abstract

Read online

Abstract Only few studies have analyzed the efficacy of tixagevimab/cilgavimab to prevent severe Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and related complications in hematologic malignancies (HM) patients. Here, we report cases of breakthrough COVID-19 after prophylactic tixagevimab/cilgavimab from the EPICOVIDEHA registry). We identified 47 patients that had received prophylaxis with tixagevimab/cilgavimab in the EPICOVIDEHA registry. Lymphoproliferative disorders (44/47, 93.6%) were the main underlying HM. SARS-CoV-2 strains were genotyped in 7 (14.9%) cases only, and all belonged to the omicron variant. Forty (85.1%) patients had received vaccinations prior to tixagevimab/cilgavimab, the majority of them with at least two doses. Eleven (23.4%) patients had a mild SARS-CoV-2 infection, 21 (44.7%) a moderate infection, while 8 (17.0%) had severe infection and 2 (4.3%) critical. Thirty-six (76.6%) patients were treated, either with monoclonal antibodies, antivirals, corticosteroids, or with combination schemes. Overall, 10 (21.3%) were admitted to a hospital. Among these, two (4.3%) were transferred to intensive care unit and one (2.1%) of them died. Our data seem to show that the use of tixagevimab/cilgavimab may lead to a COVID-19 severity reduction in HM patients; however, further studies should incorporate further HM patients to confirm the best drug administration strategies in immunocompromised patients.

Keywords