Immunotherapy treatment enhances lymphoma survival, landmark study shows

A new immunotherapy treatment regimen (nivolumab plus doxorubicin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (AVD)) provided a significant survival rate in advanced Hodgkin lymphoma patients, Phase III trial data shows.

This new treatment could decrease long-term side effects including second cancers later in life and heart and lung conditions, according to the researchers.

While standard of care (chemotherapy in addition to radiation in certain cases) for the disease offers a cure rate of more than 80 percent, “the 20 percent who are not cured have a long road ahead,” stated Wilmot Cancer Institute Director and lead study investigator, Dr Jonathan Friedberg, MMSc, University of Rochester Medical Center, US. “The goal of this study was to improve the cure rate while also minimising side effects and long-term toxicities—and that’s what makes this an unprecedented clinical trial.”

Key study findings

Almost 1,000 patients enrolled in the Phase III trial. Fifty percent of the participants received chemotherapy and brentuximab vedotin. The second half of patients also received chemotherapy in addition to the immunotherapy nivolumab.

After two years of follow-up, the survival rate in the immunotherapy group was 92 percent, data showed. Additionally, these participants did not have disease progression, the data reported. In comparison, the survival rate was 83 percent in the cohort given standard care.

The trial assessed both young and older patients, providing an approach, Dr Friedberg stated, that means new cancer treatments can be rapidly introduced into the younger population.

Progressing development of the immunotherapy regimen

Based on the positive preliminary trial data, the study was stopped early. This was done so that the findings could be reviewed quicker by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to decide whether nivolumab should be provided as an additional standard treatment for stage 3 or 4 Hodgkin lymphoma.

The research was funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) research and supported by Bristol-Myers Squibb, the pharmaceutical company that produces nivolumab.

Results from the Phase III clinical trial were published in The New England Journal of Medicine.