ASH 2014: Adcetris Effective as Maintenance After HSCT in Hodgkin's Patients

This presentation argues in favor of using Adcetris as maintenance therapy following a stem cell transplant in patients with hard to treat Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The AETHERA trial enrolled 327 patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma who underwent a stem cell transplant, but who, following the transplant, still had certain disease characteristics that made relapse likely.

So between 30 and 45 days after the transplant, these patients were randomized to receive Adcetris for one year, or the standard of care, which is nothing (placebo).

After a full two years of follow-up, the percentage of patients who received Adcetris and who showed no evidence of disease progression was 65 percent. Meanwhile, just 45 percent of the patients receiving a placebo showed no evidence of disease after the same amount of time.

"This is the first study in lymphoma to demonstrate that the addition of a maintenance drug following transplant can markedly improve patient outcomes," Said lead investigator in the AETHERA trial, Dr. Craig Moskowitz of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, following presentation of the findings at an ASH 2014 presser over the weekend.

These findings were presented at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 56th Annual Meeting. They should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Source: ASH 2014