Dr. Anas Younes on Impact of CheckMate 205 in Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma

Anas Younes, MD, chief of the Lymphoma Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer, discusses the phase II CheckMate-205 trial, which looked at single-agent nivolumab (Opdivo) for patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) who had progressed following autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) and brentuximab vedotin (adcetris).

In the trial, nivolumab induced responses in 66% of patients with cHL. The responses with nivolumab were durable and included 7 complete remissions (CR) and 46 partial remissions (PR). Among the 43 patients who did not respond to brentuximab vedotin, 72% (n = 31) responded to nivolumab.

The duration of response will continue to improve, as many patients are still on trial, but as of now it is about 10-months, says Younes.

These findings remarkable, says Younes, and the impact of nivolumab, which was approved in May, will be significant.

Patients who have progressed following ASCT and brentuximab vedotin, had very few options, says Younes, and many are young patients in the late 20s and early 30s. Nivolumab offers them significant promise for remission, he says.