• Michele Merli, Andrea Ferrario, Margherita Maffioli, Cecilia Olivares, Alessandra Stasia, Luca Arcaini, and Francesco Passamonti.
• a Division of Hematology , University Hospital Ospedale di Circolo & Fondazione Macchi, University of Insubria , Varese , Italy.
• Expert Rev Hematol. 2016 Aug 1; 9 (8): 767-80.

IntroductionBrentuximab vedotin (BV) is a potent anti-CD30 antibody drug conjugate (ADC) that has been approved in relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) after autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) and anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL). Beyond these consolidated indications, BV has been tested in a number of different settings with promising results, leading for example to the recent approval as a consolidation after ASCT in high-risk HL patients.Areas CoveredMain emerging areas of clinical investigation of BV include the use as a single-agent or in combination with bendamustine in first-salvage therapy of HL (bridge to ASCT), in the frontline setting in combination with AVD chemotherapy in HL and with CHP in ALCL, in relapsed or refractory cutaneous T-cell lymphomas and finally in diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCL) expressing CD30. Moreover, many new ADCs are currently under clinical evaluation, as for example the anti-CD79A polatuzumab vedotin in DLBCL. Expert commentary: In few years BV changed the therapeutic scenario of relapsed or refractory HL and ALCL and is rapidly moving toward first-line approval in combination with standard chemotherapy if ongoing randomized trials will demonstrate improved results. Combination strategies with bendamustine in first-salvage HL and with R-CHP in first-line DLBCL appear very promising.

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