Adcetris Could Be Curative in Some Patients with Refractory Hodgkin's

A phase II study of Adcetris in a traditionally difficult-to-treat patient population shows survival and cure potential.

According to the presentation made at the ASH meeting in December of 2013, about half of the patients in the trial diagnosed with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin’s lymphoma and treated with brentuximab vedotin in the study were alive at three years.

Ajay K. Gopal, MD, associate professor at the University of Washington, a member of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and director of clinical research in hematologic malignancies at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, told HemOncToday, "The most interesting finding is that about 10 percent of patients on this trial have been off therapy and are enjoying long-term remissions."

Studying the curative potential of Adcetris

The trial (median patient age, 31) tested Adcetris in 102 patients following an autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT). Patients received a median of nine cycles of Adcetris.

The researcher gave the three-year survival rate as 54 percent, with 51 of 102 patients still alive after a median of 32.7 months from their first dose of Adcetris.

Furthermore, a full 18 patients are said to still be in remission by the standards of the investigators (that number dips to 14 per central independent review). Five of these patients received consolidative allogeneic stem cell transplantation, and nine received no additional treatment after Adcetris.

Those in remission tended to be younger in age and underwent more treatment cycles than those not in remission.

Regarding those patients and their remissions, Gopal said that it "raises the question that this agent may have curative potential in a subset of patients and sets the stage for formally evaluating this agent as part of initial therapy."

Source: HemOncToday