Overall survival with brentuximab vedotin for stage III or IV Hodgkin’s lymphoma

For decades, standard first-line therapy for advanced stage classic Hodgkin’s lymphoma (HL) has been doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD). However, a subtantial proportion of patients with stage III or IV disease have a relapse or disease that is refractory to ABVD. The multinational phase 3 ECHELON-1 trial compared the antibody-drug conjugate brentuximab vedotin (A) plus AVD versus ABVD for stage III of IV HL. Analysis of the trial after median 6 year follow-up showed that the A+AVD group had longer overall survival than the ABVD group (6-year OS 93.9% versus 89.4%; HR 0.59; p=0.009).