Hodgkin lymphoma have shown promising results, particularly with the introduction of a new drug combination that significantly reduces death risk by 50%. A landmark study involving nearly 1,000 patients aged 12 and older demonstrated that combining nivolumab, an immunotherapy agent, with three chemotherapeutic agents markedly improves patient outcomes compared to traditional therapies such as brentuximab vedotin . The two-year progression-free survival rate for patients receiving nivolumab was reported at an impressive 92%, compared to just 83% for those on standard regimens.
The regimen, which involves the immunotherapy drug nivolumab along with three different chemotherapies, was found to result in a two-year progression-free survival rate of 92% in a phase three trial whose results were published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
At two years, 92% of the patients did not relapse, did not have progression of Hodgkin lymphoma and did not die,” Dr. Jonathan Friedberg, lead study author and director of the Wilmot Cancer Institute at the University of Rochester, said in a news briefing.
Hodgkin lymphoma is progression-free survival, because we think that best predicts the future,” he said. “If you can keep people disease-free and alive for two years, generally speaking, it’s very unlikely that beyond two years you’re going to have a lot of events, and therefore we’re quite optimistic these results are going to be durable. But of course, it’s going to be important to follow these patients for a longer period of time.”
PFS compared with brentuximab vedotin plus AVD (HR 0.48, 99% CI 0.27-0.87, P=0.001).
"Owing to the short follow-up time for the primary analysis, we repeated the analysis after an additional 1 year of follow-up to assess the durability of the progression-free survival benefit," Friedberg and colleagues explained.
"On the basis of the clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival and excellent side-effect profile of [nivolumab plus AVD], the opportunity to avoid potentially toxic consolidative radiation therapy, and the decreased drug-acquisition and supportive-care costs, [this regimen] should be a strong candidate for primary treatment in adolescent and adult patients with stage III or IV Hodgkin's lymphoma," they suggested.
Friedberg believes that “we're in the midst of an immunotherapy revolution in the treatment of cancer.” He said although immunotherapy seems to work, it's not a definitive cure, and combining immunotherapy with other standard approaches may ultimately be curative.
The study will be published later this week in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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