Where does brentuximab vedotin fit into the management of patients with Hodgkin lymphoma within the European Union?

FAQ published on August 21, 2013
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Tim Illidge, BSc, PhD, MRCP, FRCR, FRCPath
Professor of Targeted Therapy and Oncology
School of Cancer and Imaging Sciences
University of Manchester
Manchester Academic Health Science Centre
Manchester Cancer Research Centre
The Christie NHS Foundation Trust
Manchester, United Kingdom
Where does brentuximab vedotin fit into the management of patients with Hodgkin lymphoma within the European Union?
Hello, my name is Dr. Tim Illidge. I work as a professor of targeted therapy and oncology at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. The question that I am commonly asked is where does brentuximab vedotin fit into the management of patients with Hodgkin lymphoma within the European Union. The first point to make about this is to be clear about the conditional marketing authorization that was granted in Europe on the 25th of October 2012. In terms of Hodgkin lymphoma, the drug can be used for relapsed-refractory CD30-positive Hodgkin lymphoma following autologous stem cell transplant or importantly following at least two prior therapies when autologous stem cell transplant or multiagent chemotherapy is not a treatment option. To pick up the first of those indications, the pivotal study was done in 102 patients, post-autologous stem cell transplant showed a really impressive overall response and complete response rate with durable remissions for those patients that got a complete remission. Overall, the median progression-free survival for the 102 patients was just under 6 months. However, very durable remission was seen for patients that achieved a CR. So, what we can say with confidence is this is a highly effective treatment for those patients that have relapsed post autologous stem cell transplant, and for those patients who are able to achieve a complete remission, it provides potentially a bridge to a further curative attempt with allogeneic transplant. Moving then to the second option for patients that are unsuitable for autologous stem cell transplant or multiagent chemotherapy, these are a very difficult group of patients often to treat with important improvements in their quality of life and the quantity of their life, and there are a group of a particularly older patients and patients with comorbidities that may really benefit from the use of this highly effective drug to improve the quality and the quantity of their life with durable remissions seen in significant numbers of patients.
Last modified: August 21, 2013
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