Is the AE profile of BV the same or different from traditional monoclonal antibody therapies?

Clinical Pearls Podcasts published on May 10, 2017
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Alison J. Moskowitz, MD
Clinical Director, Lymphoma Inpatient Unit
Assistant Attending, Lymphoma Service
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York, New York
Is the AE profile of BV the same or different from traditional monoclonal antibody therapies?

Hi. My name is Dr. Alison Moskowitz and for the next few minutes I am going to be talking about how the side-effect profile of brentuximab vedotin differs from the traditional monoclonal antibodies. Brentuximab vedotin is an antibody drug conjugate, with a monoclonal antibody, against CD30, that is conjugated to a chemotherapy agent called MMAE. MMAE is a microtubule inhibitor, and so similar to other agents that effect microtubules, one of the side effects of this agent is neuropathy, and that is a common side effect that we see with brentuximab. Brentuximab can also be occasionally associated with neutropenia. In contrast, the standard monoclonal antibodies have a different side-effect profile, particularly because they are not conjugated to a chemotherapy agent. For example, with rituximab, one of the most common side effects that we see with rituximab are infusion-related reactions, and as a result patients always receive premedications prior to treatment with rituximab, in contrast with brentuximab, pretreatment with premedications prior to treatment is not necessary unless a patient has had a prior infusion-related reaction. Likewise, some of the other side effects that are related to brentuximab which are primarily due to the fact that it is conjugated to chemotherapy agents, such as constipation or fatigue or less commonly seen with a monoclonal antibody such as rituximab. Thank you for your attention.

Last modified: April 5, 2017
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