Hematologic Oncology Update, Issue 1, 2016 (Video Program)Investigating the combination of brentuximab vedotin and an immune checkpoint inhibitor for advanced HL
1:34 minutes.
TRANSCRIPTION:
DR YOUNES: So there are 2 different questions here. There are the elderly patients who can tolerate chemotherapy and the elderly patient who’s not a candidate for chemotherapy. And these are completely different things. Keep in mind that Hodgkin lymphoma patients who are older than the average patients, they do have a lower cure rate with standard ABVD or AVD. That’s for sure. But, up to 50%, they’re still curable with standard chemotherapy compared to, let’s say, 80 to 85. So chemotherapy can still cure patients, yes, not as younger patients, but we should not forget that. So if a patient who is older but eligible for chemotherapy, chemotherapy still remains the standard of care, knowing that it is not as good as younger patients. So people are trying to improve on that. So you can add things. And there are strategies to start with brentuximab vedotin followed by AVD added to AVD backbone and so forth to improve on AVD or ABVD kind of regimens. In chemo-intolerable patients, there is a lot of interest about combining brentuximab plus PD-1 antibodies in a pilot study and see if this adds value, too. And I think it makes a lot of sense to test this doublet in chemo intolerable. I think if it is highly effective in chemo intolerable, people should think about moving it to replace chemotherapy. But I think we’re not there yet. DR LOVE: So the idea is, just give them both at the same time, or sequence them? DR YOUNES: For now, the trial is giving them at the same time. DR LOVE: And is it actually a trial that’s up and running now? DR YOUNES: Yes. Yes. Yes. DR LOVE: Who’s doing it? DR YOUNES: It’s a multicenter trial. |