Benefits of Brentuximab Vedotin & Chemotherapy Combination for Advanced Stage Hodgkin Lymphoma

At the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2018 annual meeting in Chicago, Radhakrishnan Ramchandren, MD, associate professor in the Oncology Department at Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit Illinois, highlighted the recent US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval and advantages of ADCETRIS (brentuximab vedotin) in combination with chemotherapy for advance stage, classic Hodgkin lymphoma.

Dr Ramchandren: It has been approved by the FDA. It has recently been approved as a frontline option for patients who have advance stage, classic Hodgkin lymphoma.

These are young patients. The average age [that a person gets] Hodgkin lymphoma is in the early 30s, and that means there are many 20-year-olds, and adolescents even, with this condition as well as older patients who tolerate chemotherapeutic regimens less well.

The advantage of substituting ADCETRIS [brentuximab vedotin] for bleomycin may be substantial in a proportion of patients. Importantly, if there are options provided to patients, we can further define which patients will benefit but also potentially provide a higher rate of a cure for patients with Hodgkin lymphoma.

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