The ZUMA-7 trial showed improved overall survival for axi-cel CAR T-cell therapy compared to salvage chemotherapy plus autologous transplant in relapsed/refractory DLBCL - the first trial to show an overall survival benefit in second line DLBCL in 30 years! The updated OS analysis was simultaneously published in NEJM.

The IELSG37 trial is the largest ever trial in Primary Mediastinal B-Cell Lymphoma, which is a rare subtype of aggressive lymphoma that is most common in young females. It provides evidence that it is likely to be safe to omit radiotherapy in patients with PMBCL achieving PET negativity after induction chemotherapy. A range of induction chemotherapy approaches were allowed, with variation between participating sites as to their chemotherapy backbone of choice.

The SWOG S1826 trial was presented in the plenary session. In a randomized phase 3 trial of nivolumab plus AVD versus brentuximab vedotin plus AVD in 994 patients with untreated advanced stage Hodgkin lymphoma, nivolumab-AVD demonstrated superior progression-free survival to brentuximab-AVD (1 year PFS 94% vs 86%). Additionally, there was less peripheral neuropathy with N-AVD, and although there was more neutropenia, there was similar febrile neutropenia (5% N-AVD vs 7% BV-AVD) despite much lower use of GCSF in the N-AVD arm (54% vs 95%).