# Rovalpituzumab tesirine

Source: https://onco.cc/drugs/rovalpituzumab-tesirine/  
OnCo record `rovalpituzumab-tesirine` (Treatment). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Rovalpituzumab tesirine (Rova-T) was the first drug against DLL3 in small-cell lung cancer. AbbVie bought it for $5.8B and abandoned it after two failed phase 3 trials. The target later worked with a different weapon.

## Summary

A DLL3-directed ADC with a PBD dimer payload (DAR ~2). Phase 2 TRINITY showed modest response rates with high toxicity (effusions, oedema, photosensitivity). Phase 3 TAHOE (second line vs topotecan) was stopped for shorter survival in the Rova-T arm; MERU (first-line maintenance) failed. AbbVie ended development in 2019 after the 2016 Stemcentrx acquisition. Tarlatamab, a DLL3×CD3 T-cell engager, later improved survival in the same setting (DeLLphi-304, 2025).

Lesson: target validation and modality are separable. DLL3 was the right address; a PBD payload with a narrow window in a frail population was the wrong weapon.

## Fields

- Kind: Treatment
- Status: withdrawn
- Last checked: 2026-09-06
- Tags: failure; lesson:wrong-drug
- Code: Rova-T, SC16LD6.5
- Modality: ADC
- Mechanism: Humanised anti-DLL3 with PBD dimer (SC-DR002) via cleavable linker.
- Payload: PBD dimer (SC-DR002)
- Linker: Cleavable dipeptide

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rovalpituzumab_tesirine
- TAHOE phase 3 (J Thorac Oncol 2021): https://www.jto.org/article/S1556-0864(21)02264-5/fulltext

## Connected records

- cancers: [Small-cell lung cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/sclc/)
- technologies: [Antibody-drug conjugate (ADC)](https://onco.cc/technologies/adc/)
- targets: [DLL3](https://onco.cc/targets/dll3/)
- drugs: [Tarlatamab](https://onco.cc/drugs/tarlatamab/)
- companies: [AbbVie (incl. ImmunoGen, Capstan)](https://onco.cc/companies/abbvie/)
- trials: [A Study of Rovalpituzumab Tesirine as Maintenance Therapy Following First- Line Platinum-Based Chemotherapy in Participants With Extensive Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer (MERU)](https://onco.cc/trials/nct03033511/), [Study Comparing Rovalpituzumab Tesirine Versus Topotecan in Subjects With Advanced or Metastatic Small Cell Lung Cancer With High Levels of Delta-like Protein 3 (DLL3) and Who Have First Disease Progression During or Following Front-line Platinum-based Chemotherapy (TAHOE)](https://onco.cc/trials/nct03061812/), [Study of Rovalpituzumab Tesirine (SC16LD6.5) for Third-Line and Later Treatment of Subjects With Relapsed or Refractory Delta-Like Protein 3-Expressing Small Cell Lung Cancer](https://onco.cc/trials/nct02674568/)
- bottlenecks: [Failures are hidden](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-negative-results/)
- ideas: [Public post-mortem reports when a cancer drug programme is stopped](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-tr2-termination-reports/)

---
JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/rovalpituzumab-tesirine.json