Brentuximab Vedotin Plus Bendamustine For Pediatric Patients With Relapsed/Refractory Hodgkin Lymphoma: A Multi-Institution Retrospective Analysis

Background: Pediatric patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) are often curable through a combination of salvage chemotherapy followed by high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT). Complete response (CR) to salvage treatment prior to HSCT is associated with superior outcomes, therefore optimal salvage treatments need to be identified. Brentuximab vedotin (BV), an antibody-drug conjugate combining an anti-CD30 murine/human chimeric monoclonal antibody covalently linked by an enzyme cleavable peptide to monomethyl auristatin E, and bendamustine, a fusion hybrid molecule containing the purine analogue fludarabine and the alkylating nitrogen mustard, are novel agents that have demonstrated potency as single-agent therapies for patients with R/R HL. Recently, the combination of BV and bendamustine proved to be highly active in adults with R/R HL. However, safety and efficacy data for pediatric patients are lacking.