Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common subtype of
non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Although 5-year survival rates in the first-line setting range from 60% to 70%, up to 50% of patients become refractory to or relapse
after treatment. Published analyses of large-scale outcome data from patients with refractory DLBCL are limited. SCHOLAR-1, an international, multicohort retrospective
non-Hodgkin lymphoma research study, retrospectively evaluated outcomes in patients with refractory DLBCL which, for this study, was defined as progressive disease or stable disease as best response at any point during
chemotherapy (>4 cycles of first-line or 2 cycles of later-line
therapy) or relapsed at ≤12 months from autologous
stem cell transplantation. SCHOLAR-1 pooled data from 2 phase 3 clinical trials (
Lymphoma Academic Research Organization-CORAL and Canadian
Cancer Trials Group LY.12) and 2 observational cohorts (MD Anderson
Cancer Center and University of Iowa/Mayo Clinic
Lymphoma Specialized Program of Research Excellence). Response rates and overall survival were estimated from the time of initiation of
salvage therapy for refractory disease. Among 861 patients, 636 were included on the basis of refractory disease inclusion criteria. For patients with refractory DLBCL, the objective response rate was 26% (complete response rate, 7%) to the next line of
therapy, and the median overall survival was 6.3 months. Twenty percent of patients were alive at 2 years. Outcomes were consistently poor across patient subgroups and study cohorts. SCHOLAR-1 is the largest patient-level pooled retrospective analysis to characterize response rates and survival for a population of patients with refractory DLBCL.