Dr. Goodman on the Importance of the ECHELON-2 Data in PTCL

Aaron Goodman, MD, hematologist/oncologist and assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, San Diego, discusses the importance of the phase III ECHELON-2 data in peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL).

The ECHELON-2 trial was the first multicenter, randomized study that showed a progression-free survival and overall survival (OS) benefit with brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) plus chemotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed, CD30-expressing PTCL. The population in the study was predominantly patients with anaplastic large cell lymphoma, but it also included some of the more difficult-to-treat PTCLs, including angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphomas, says Goodman.

The results changed the standard of care for patients with CD30-expressing PTCLs, says Goodman. Now, brentuximab vedotin plus chemotherapy is listed in the guidelines as frontline therapy for patients with PTCL and should be universally adopted as such, concludes Goodman.