Dr. Hamdan on the Potential Use of Brentuximab Vedotin/Nivolumab in Hodgkin Lymphoma

Ayad Hamdan, MD, hematologist and associate professor of medicine at Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, discusses the potential use of nivolumab (Opdivo) and brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) in patients with advanced-stage classical Hodgkin lymphoma.

Most patients with Hodgkin lymphoma are young; however, a subset of patients are over the age of 60, says Hamdan. Historically, these patients have not done very well with doxorubicin, vinblastine, dacarbazine, and vincristine and they experience increased toxicity with the regimen.

At the 2019 ASH Annual Meeting, data from a phase II trial (NCT01716806) showed encouraging responses with the combination of brentuximab vedotin and nivolumab in patients over 60 years with advanced-stage classical Hodgkin lymphoma. Of 19 evaluable patients, 18 had an objective response, 13 had a complete response, and 5 had a partial response. The median duration of response had not been reached at the time of data cutoff. Although the trial was small, the results are encouraging and suggest that the combination may serve as a treatment option for these patients, concludes Hamdan.