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‹ Thu · 30 Jul 2026
Novel or significantly improved treatment

Impact of EBV Status and Histology on Patient Outcomes with Nivolumab-AVD vs BV-AVD in Advanced Classic Hodgkin Lymphoma (S1826).

Nivolumab-based immunotherapy works better than standard chemotherapy for advanced Hodgkin lymphoma in all patient groups, including those historically hardest to treat.

In a prespecified subset analysis of the Phase III SWOG S1826 trial, nivolumab-AVD demonstrated superior PFS over BV-AVD in advanced Hodgkin lymphoma across all EBV and histologic subgroups, with the greatest benefit in EBV-positive and non-nodular sclerosis patients—historically the poorest-prognosis groups. These results directly support N-AVD as frontline standard of care for all advanced cHL regardless of biologic subgroup.

What the study was

Study design
Prespecified subset analysis of Phase III RCT (SWOG S1826, NCT03907488)
Population
Stage III-IV classic Hodgkin lymphoma (n=970 eligible; EBV n=522, histology n=664)
Sample size
970
Category
Treatment Innovation
Maturity
Potentially Practice-Changing
Journal
Blood Advances

Why it surfaced

Phase III prespecified subset analysis showing N-AVD overcomes historically poor prognosis of EBV+ and non-NS Hodgkin lymphoma; defines frontline standard of care for all advanced cHL subgroups.

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