Is Adcetris a chemotherapy drug?

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Official answer

by Drugs.com

Adcetris is a targeted drug used to treat cancer but is not a traditional chemotherapy. Adcetris is made up of 3 parts:

  • an antibody that finds the protein CD30 on cancer cells
  • an anticancer (chemotherapy) drug (that causes cell death)
  • a “linker”, which attaches the cancer drug to the antibody so the drug can be released inside the cancer cell.

    • Adcetris combines the antibody and cancer drug, allowing the antibody to direct the drug to a target on lymphoma cancer cells known as CD30. The cancer drug is monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE), which inhibits microtubule polymerization and leads to cell death.

    What type of drug is Adcetris?

    Adcetris is known as a CD30-directed Antibody Drug conjugate (ADC). It belongs to a group of targeted drug therapies called monoclonal antibodies.

    What does Adcetris treat?

    Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin) is a prescription drug used in adults and children to treat different types of blood cancers (lymphomas). Adcetris is used to treat certain forms of classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) and T-cell lymphomas (a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma).

    It is given as an intravenous (IV) infusion into your vein. Specifically Adcetris treats:

    Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma:

  • Previously untreated Stage 3 or 4 classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL), in combination with doxorubicin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine.
  • Classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) at high risk of relapse (coming back) or progression (getting worse) after a stem cell transplant.
  • Classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) after failure of a stem cell transplant OR failure of treatment with at least 2 chemotherapy agents (if you are not a stem cell transplant candidate).
  • Previously untreated high risk classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) in pediatric patients 2 years and older, in combination with doxorubicin, vincristine, etoposide, prednisone, and cyclophosphamide.

    • Certain types of T-cell lymphoma:

  • Systemic (throughout the body) anaplastic large cell lymphoma or other untreated peripheral T-cell lymphomas, in combination with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and prednisone.
  • Systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma after failure of at least one chemotherapy regimen with multiple drugs.
  • Primary cutaneous anaplastic large cell lymphoma or CD30- expressing mycosis fungoides (MF) in patients who have been treated with drug therapy that affects the whole body.

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