Updated Real-World Outcomes with Brentuximab Vedotin in Chinese Lymphoma Patients: A Multicenter, Retrospective Study

Brentuximab vedotin (BV) has been increasingly used in the treatment of CD30-positive lymphomas since its approval in China in 2020. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of BV-based regimens in a real-world setting with a larger cohort and longer follow-up period from a 2022 study.

This multi-center, retrospective study included patients diagnosed with lymphoma treated with BV-based regimens between August 2020 and April 2025 at three real-world centers in central China.

A total of 252 CD30-positive lymphoma patients were collected: 44.8% were cHL, 27.4% were sALCL and 27.8% were other types of lymphoma, who accomplished a median of 4 cycles of BV-based therapy. Effectiveness analysis was performed on 234 patients, revealing an overall response rate (ORR) of 67.1% and a complete response (CR) rate of 39.7%. After a median follow-up of 17.6 months (range: 0.1-55.6 months), the 1-year, 2-year and 3-year progression-free survival (PFS) rates were 72.7%, 69.4% and 69.4%, respectively, while the 1-year, 2-year and 3-year overall survival (OS) rates were 87.0%, 83.7% and 83.7%, respectively. First-line BV-based treatment yielded significantly better CR rates, although no significant survival advantage was observed after adjustment for confounding factors. The overall incidence of adverse events (AEs) of any grade was 85.7%, with the most frequently reported AEs being anemia, leukopenia, and infections. A total of 44 patients underwent stem cell transplantation (SCT), with 31 patients receiving BV-based bridge therapy and 10 patients receiving BV as consolidation therapy following SCT.

Our findings further solidify the role of BV as an efficacious and generally well-tolerated treatment in CD30-positive lymphomas. Its clinical activity was observed across first-line, bridging, and post-SCT settings. However, given the heterogeneous lymphoma subtypes and treatment settings included in this real-world cohort, further prospective studies are warranted.