Genmab and AbbVie say adding their lymphoma drug to standard chemotherapy halved the risk of progression or death in a late-stage trial

Genmab's U.S.-listed shares closed up 10.7% on Monday after the Danish drugmaker and its partner AbbVie said adding their antibody epcoritamab to standard chemotherapy cut the risk of cancer progression or death by about half in people newly diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, the most common form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

The companies said their Phase 3 trial, called EPCORE DLBCL-2, met its main goal at the first planned interim look at efficacy, and that the independent committee monitoring the data recommended unblinding the study because the benefit was large. In the trial's primary group, patients with an International Prognostic Index score of 3 to 5, a measure of higher-risk disease, the combination reduced the risk of progression or death by 51% compared with chemotherapy alone (hazard ratio 0.49). The hazard ratio was also 0.49 across all enrolled patients, with scores of 2 to 5, and the result was statistically significant in both groups.

These are topline results. The companies did not disclose response rates, survival figures or how often patients had serious side effects such as cytokine release syndrome, a known risk with this class of drug. They said only that the combination was generally well tolerated and in line with the known safety of each treatment, and that full data will be submitted to a future medical meeting. The combination is not approved for newly diagnosed patients, and the companies said they will talk to regulators about next steps.

Genmab's American depositary shares ended at $38.48, up $3.73, after touching $40.17. AbbVie, a far larger company for which the drug is one product among many, rose 1.1% to $265.76. The results came out shortly before 3 p.m. ET, hours after trading had closed in Copenhagen, where Genmab's main listing will react on Tuesday.

A first-line market that rarely changes

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma accounts for roughly a quarter to 30% of non-Hodgkin lymphoma cases worldwide, and about 25,000 people are diagnosed with it in the U.S. each year, according to the companies. For most of them, initial treatment for about 25 years has been R-CHOP, which pairs the antibody rituximab with four chemotherapy drugs. Gilles Salles, who leads the lymphoma service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and worked on both the trial that established R-CHOP nearly 25 years ago and the new study, called the 51% reduction "clinically meaningful and highly relevant to everyday practice." The companies' release noted that he has financial interests related to both of them.

The last change to that first-line standard came in April 2023, when the Food and Drug Administration approved Roche's Polivy with a modified version of the regimen for previously untreated patients with a score of 2 or higher. Roche called it the first new first-line treatment for the disease in nearly 20 years. In its 879-patient trial, Polivy cut the risk of progression, relapse or death by 27% (hazard ratio 0.73).

The two numbers are not a clean comparison. Roche's trial was double-blind and placebo-controlled, while the epcoritamab study is open-label, assigned two patients to the combination for every one on chemotherapy alone, and is reporting its first interim analysis. In the new study, patients received six cycles of epcoritamab, given as an injection under the skin, plus R-CHOP, followed by two more cycles of epcoritamab alone, a fixed course rather than open-ended treatment. The study began in February 2023 and is still running; its federal registry entry lists an estimated 900 participants.

Why it matters for Genmab

Epcoritamab, sold as Epkinly in the U.S. and Japan and as Tepkinly in Europe, is approved in more than 65 countries for certain lymphomas, but not for people who have just been diagnosed. Its U.S. approval in that setting rests on response data, and studies to confirm its clinical benefit are ongoing.

Global sales were $312 million in the first half of 2026, up 48% from a year earlier, Genmab said in August. That is still modest beside the $1.7 billion in royalties the company collected over the same six months, mostly on Johnson & Johnson's Darzalex and Novartis's Kesimpta. Genmab and AbbVie share commercial responsibility in the U.S. and Japan, with AbbVie handling sales elsewhere, and Genmab pays AbbVie a share of the profits.

A first-line approval would put the drug in front of newly diagnosed patients rather than only those who have already relapsed or stopped responding to other treatment. Monday's result also follows a positive Phase 3 result Genmab reported earlier this year for epcoritamab with lenalidomide in relapsed or refractory disease. Genmab in August raised its 2026 revenue forecast to $4.325 billion to $4.525 billion, citing higher royalties and Epkinly sales.