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Where Do the New Drugs Fit in for Relapsed/Refractory Hodgkin Lymphoma?

  • B-cell NHL, T-cell NHL, and Hodgkin Lymphoma (D Persky, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

The standard approach for relapsed or refractory (rel/ref) Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) following frontline treatment failure is salvage therapy followed by consolidation with high-dose therapy and autologous stem cell transplant (HDT/ASCT). While this overall treatment paradigm has been in place for several decades, recent studies have aimed to improve the efficacy and tolerability of salvage therapies by incorporating newer drugs, such as brentuximab vedotin (BV) and checkpoint inhibitors. Following HDT/ASCT, survival is improved due to the availability of BV and the checkpoint inhibitors, nivolumab and pembrolizumab; however, for patients responding to checkpoint inhibition, the appropriate length of treatment and the role of allogeneic stem cell transplant are unclear. In this review, we discuss our management of rel/ref HL, with particular focus on how BV, nivolumab, and pembrolizumab are currently incorporated into the treatment paradigms for rel/ref HL.

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  1. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, New York, NY, 10065, USA

    Niloufer Khan & Alison J. Moskowitz

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Niloufer Khan declares no potential conflicts of interest.

Alison J. Moskowitz received grants from Seattle Genetics and BMS and honoraria from Seattle Genetics, BMS, Takeda, and Merck.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on B-cell NHL, T-cell NHL, and Hodgkin Lymphoma

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Khan, N., Moskowitz, A.J. Where Do the New Drugs Fit in for Relapsed/Refractory Hodgkin Lymphoma?. Curr Hematol Malig Rep 12, 227–233 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11899-017-0384-z

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