Safety and Efficacy Study of TNX-650 to Treat Refractory Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) is a lymphoid malignancy that accounts for approximately 7,000 to 8,000 new cancer cases per year in the United Sates. It occurs with a bimodal age-incidence distribution peaking in the 15- to 30-year old and 50- to 60-year old age groups. The pathological hallmark of the disease is the presence of malignant Reed Sternberg (RS) cells. Reed-Sternberg cells are interspersed among a heterogeneous population of non-malignant reactive cells, including T cells, eosinophils, neutrophils, B lymphocytes, plasma cells, histiocytes, fibroblasts, and stromal cells. While more than 80% of patients will respond to initial radiotherapy or combination chemoradiotherapy, some patients will experience early relapse after initial therapy or be refractory to first-line therapy. These patients may be treated with second-line therapy, which may include autologous bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Patients with HL who relapse after first- and second-line therapy, or who are refractory to therapy, with or without autologous BMT, have a poor prognosis. The long-term event-free survival rate in this patient group is less than 10%; median survival is 16 months. At present, these patients have no treatment options other than investigational therapies.