lymphoma survival rate | Hodgkin's disease. New treatment increases chances of survival

Hodgkin's disease. New treatment increases chances of survival

Hope for patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a blood cancer that affects young adults. A new treatment significantly increases the chances of survival.

A new treatment marketed in the United States and Europe significantly increases the chances of survival of patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a blood cancer that strikes mostly young adults, according to a study published Thursday.

It is the brentuximab vedotin (marketed under the Adcetris brand by the Takeda Laboratory), the first new treatment developed in the space of 30 years against Hodgkin's lymphoma, stresses the British journal The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology WHO publishes the study.

This product is a complex monoclonal antibody capable of recognizing the specific antigens expressed by cancer cells.

Resistance to chemotherapy
Most patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma usually respond to chemotherapy and radiation therapy. But a minority of them reoffend or become refractory to treatment, and are offered other treatments such as stem cell transplants that do not always allow them to be cured.

Presented as a treatment of remedies in this type of case, the Adcetris received an authorisation to put on the US market in 2011 and another "conditional" in 2012 for the European market, pending additional data.

In their phase III study published on Thursday, researchers led by American oncologist Craig Moskowitz stated that they had tested the drug on 329 patients at high risk of relapse after a stem cell transplant.

Two years later, cancer had not increased in 65% of patients treated with brentuximab vedotin compared to only 45% in the placebo group.

Spectacular results
Survival without progression of the disease for two years is considered a good indication of a possible cure.

"No medication has yet shown such dramatic results in patients with difficult-to-treat Hodgkin lymphomas," says Dr. Moskowitz.

In a commentary attached to the article, Prof. Andreas Engert of the University of Cologne acknowledges that this is "a promising new therapeutic approach".

However, he wondered whether the population tested was really at high risk of relapse, since 45% of patients who had received a placebo had not recurred at the end of the two years.

2000 new cases per year in France
It therefore calls for a better definition in the future of patients who may benefit from treatment based on brentuximab vedotin.

In France Hodgkin's lymphoma has fewer than 2 000 new cases, mainly young adults (20-30 years) and over 60 years of age. This cancer is "good prognosis" with a five-year survival rate of 84%.