Brentuximab vedotin consolidation post-autologous stem cell transplant in Hodgkin lymphoma patients at risk of residual disease: number needed to treat

Abstract

The number needed to treat (NNT) with brentuximab vedotin consolidation therapy post-autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) versus placebo in the phase 3 AETHERA trial to avoid one additional event of disease progression/death was evaluated. AETHERA included 329 Hodgkin lymphoma patients at increased risk of progression post-ASCT who received brentuximab vedotin 1.8 mg/kg (n = 165) or placebo (n = 164) on day 1 of each 21-d cycle (up to 16 cycles). Over 60 months, the NNT with brentuximab vedotin ranged from 4.08 to 7.79 for the intent-to-treat population, 3.18–6.07 for patients with ≥2 risk factors, and 2.98–5.65 for patients with ≥3 risk factors. At various time points, and dependent on the risk group, 3–8 patients would need to be treated with brentuximab vedotin consolidation therapy to prevent a disease progression/death, compared with placebo. Patients with increased risk of relapse may benefit most from brentuximab vedotin.

Keywords:

• Brentuximab vedotin
• CD30
• hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
• Hodgkin lymphoma
• numbers needed to treat

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the writing assistance of Hannah Finnigan of FireKite, an Ashfield company, part of UDG Healthcare plc, during the development of this manuscript, which was funded by Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and complied with Good Publication Practice 3 ethical guidelines (Battisti WP et al. Ann Intern Med 2015;163:461–464).

Previous presentation

Gautam A et al. Brentuximab Vedotin Consolidation Post-Autologous Stem Cell Transplant in Hodgkin Lymphoma Patients at Risk of Residual Disease: Number Needed to Treat Analysis. Accepted for poster presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Quality Care Symposium (ASCO-QC), Phoenix, AZ, USA, February 26–27, 2016. Abstract 160820.

Potential conflict of interest

Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this article online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10428194.2017.1324160.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited.