Brentuximab vedotin is used to treat adults with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL, a type of cancer that originates from blood cells in the lymphatic system, a part of the immune system) when the tumour cells are CD30-positive (when they have a protein called CD30 on their surface).

It is used when the cancer has come back or has not responded to an autologous stem cell transplant (a transplant of the patient′s own blood-producing cells); when the cancer has come back or has not responded to at least two previous therapies and when autologous stem cell transplant or multi-agent chemotherapy (a combination of anticancer medicines) are not treatment options. Is also used to treat systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (sALCL, a CD30-positive cancer of white blood cells called T lymphocytes), when the cancer has come back or has not responded to other treatments.

The most frequently observed side effects include peripheral sensory neuropathy, fatigue, nausea (feeling sick), diarrhoea, neutropenia, vomiting, pyrexia and infections.