Bendamustine, gemcitabine, and vinorelbine (BeGEV) constitute a promisingly effective treatment for patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.1
To evaluate whether BeGEV is an efficacious induction therapy before autologous stem cell transplantation for patients who were either refractory to or had relapsed after 1 line of chemotherapy, researchers enrolled 59 patients to this multicenter, open-label, phase 2 study.
Continue Reading
Patients received 4 cycles of BeGEV therapy; 43 (73%) achieved a complete response, 6 (10%) achieved a partial response; 2-year progression-free survival was 62.2%; 2-year overall survival was 77.6%. Of the 83% of patients who responded to treatment, 43 underwent stem cell transplantation; 2-year progression free and overall survival rates for these patients were 80.8% and 89.3%, respectively.
RELATED: Patients With Hodgkin Lymphoma May Benefit From PET-CT Scans to Guide Treatment
The authors concluded that BeGEV provides clinical benefit for patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma, and ought to be developed further. Grade 3 to 4 adverse events included nonhematologic febrile neutropenia (7 cases) and infection (4 cases); hematologic thrombocytopenia (8 cases) and neutropenia (8 cases).
Reference
1. Santoro A, Mazza R, Pulsoni A. Bendamustine in combination with gemcitabine and vinorelbine is an effective regimen as induction chemotherapy before autologous stem-cell transplantation for relapsed or refractory hodgkin lymphoma: final results of a multicenter phase II study. J Clin Oncol. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2016.66.4466 [Epub ahead of print].
