iwNHL 2016 | Relapse in DLBCL – addressing the unmet need with brentuximab vedotin
Anton Hagenbeek, MD, PhD of the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands discusses the unmet needs of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and the Transplant BRaVE trial at the 2016 International Workshop on Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (iwNHL) meeting held in San Diego, CA. According to Prof. Hagenbeek, patients who relapse are the biggest unmet need in DLBCL. If they relapse after having been induced with rituximab-containing regimens, there are no effective treatment options. He focuses on the CD30 molecules, which is present on around 30% of initially diagnosed and relapsed patients; there is an active compound against CD30, the antibody drug-conjugate brentuximab vedotin. In Hodgkin lymphoma, they are running the Transplant BRaVE study in Europe (NCT02280993) where brentuximab vedotin is combined with second-line chemotherapy (DHAP) in relapsed or primary refractory patients with the aim to increase the PET-negative metabolic complete remissions (CR) in second-line treatment; the more PET-negative CRs they get prior to high-dose treatments, the better the outcome will be in terms of cures Prof. Hagenbeek believes. They are now transferring the same approach to CD30-positive relapsed DLBCL to see if they can increase PET-negativity prior to high-dose chemotherapy and autologous transplantation. For 30% of patients in relapse, this might be induce more cures.
Medicines: Brentuximab vedotin
