Pembrolizumab in relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma: a post hoc analysis of KEYNOTE-204 by prior lines of therapy

This report focuses on a post hoc exploratory analysis of the phase 3 KEYNOTE-204 study comparing pembrolizumab and brentuximab vedotin by number of prior lines of therapy in participants with relapsed/refractory (R/R) classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL). Of 304 participants randomly assigned (1: 1) to pembrolizumab or brentuximab vedotin, 55 received 1 prior therapy and 249 received ≥2. For 1 prior therapy, median progression-free survival (PFS) at primary analysis (including clinical imaging data after autologous stem cell transplant [auto-SCT]) was 16.4 months with pembrolizumab and 8.4 months with brentuximab vedotin; objective response rate (ORR) was 66.7% and 53.6%. For ≥2 prior therapies, median PFS at primary analysis was 12.6 months with pembrolizumab and 8.2 months with brentuximab vedotin; ORR was 65.3% and 54.4%. Pembrolizumab improved PFS and ORR versus brentuximab vedotin regardless of prior therapies. Data suggest pembrolizumab may be a promising second-line therapy for participants with R/R cHL ineligible for auto-SCT. Clinical trial information: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02684292.