BEACOPP is a
chemotherapy regimen
A chemotherapy regimen is a regimen for chemotherapy, defining the drugs to be used, their dosage, the frequency and duration of treatments, and other considerations. In modern oncology, many regimens combine several chemotherapy drugs in combi ...
for treatment of
Hodgkin lymphoma developed by the German Hodgkin Study Group used for patients in Stages > II or early (IA or IB) with unfavorable risk factors.
Patients typically receive treatment in cycles of 21 days with no drugs given on days 15–21.
There also exists a more intensive regimen with cycles of 14 days. Usually a course of BEACOPP therapy consists of four, sometimes six to eight cycles, or in combination with ABVD.
In some countries BEACOPP still is experimental, in others (e.g.
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
and
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
) it is a standard therapy. In the United States,
ABVD (or
Stanford V) is generally given instead, because of the possibility of BEACOPP inducing more secondary neoplasias (such as leukemias), although the final results from a clinical trial (GHSG HD14) indicate that "there were no overall differences in treatment-related mortality or secondary malignancies" of BEACOPP relative to ABVD.
Some believe that the BEACOPP regimen is used less often in the US for cost reasons:
* Twice as many infusion per cycle relative to
ABVD;
* Requirement for
G-CSF support, which was under patent protection in the US until 2013 (as Neupogen by Amgen), while that patent protection expired in the EU in 2008;
* Higher likelihood of adverse events requiring hospitalization, such as infection or acute toxicity;
However, BEACOPP delivers approximately 7% points success relative to ABVD for early unfavorable Hodgkin lymphoma (as measured five-year freedom from treatment failure)
and 12% points greater success relative to ABVD for advanced Hodgkin lymphoma (Stage IIB with risk factors or stages III and IV) as measured by seven-year freedom from treatment failure.
Predecessors of BEACOPP were
COPP and (the earliest)
MOPP.
Dosing regimen
See also
*
Stanford V
*
ABVD
References
{{Reflist
Chemotherapy regimens used in lymphoma
Hodgkin lymphoma