Amina, ADCETRIS®, and the importance of the patient’s voice

Amina struggled to get an accurate diagnosis. She reflects on how this taught her to speak up and advocate for herself.
Official video for ADCETRIS® (brentuximab vedotin) for injection. This video is intended for US residents 18 years of age or older. See Select Safety Information below, including IMPORTANT WARNING. See Important Facts: docs.seagen.co...
ADCETRIS is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with certain types of blood cancer.
ADCETRIS may be given with chemotherapy (combination therapy) as your first treatment for Stage 3 or 4 classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) with Adriamycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (also known as AVD).
Select Safety Information
ADCETRIS can cause serious side effects, including a rare, serious brain infection called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) that can lead to death. Tell your doctor immediately if you have mood or behavior changes, confusion, problems in thinking or loss of memory, changes in vision, speech, or walking, or decreased strength or weakness on one side of the body. PML may also be caused by prior treatments or diseases that weakened your immune system.
Do not take ADCETRIS if you are receiving bleomycin.
ADCETRIS can cause other serious side effects, including:
Nerve damage (peripheral neuropathy). Tell your doctor if you have any numbness or tingling in your hands or feet or any muscle weakness.
Allergic and infusion reactions. Tell your doctor if you experience symptoms of fever, chills, rash, or breathing problems within 24 hours of infusion. If you have a reaction, you may be given medicines before your ADCETRIS treatment.
Blood problems. Serious cases, including death, of fever with a low number of white blood cells have occurred with ADCETRIS. Serious cases of a low number of white blood cells, a low number of platelets, or a low number of red blood cells can occur. Your doctor will do blood tests to check your blood cell levels during ADCETRIS treatment. Your doctor may give you a medicine called G-CSF.
Infections. Serious infections caused have been reported.
Tumor lysis syndrome (TLS). TLS is caused by the fast breakdown of cancer cells. Your doctor will monitor you for symptoms.
ADCETRIS patients with severe kidney problems or moderate or severe liver problems may have more side effects and deaths than patients without kidney or liver problems.
Liver problems. Serious liver problems, including death, can occur.
Lung problems. Serious lung problems, including death, can occur.
Skin problems. Rare but serious skin conditions, including death, can occur.
Gastrointestinal (GI) problems. Serious problems, including death, related to the pancreas, stomach, intestine, and colon, can occur.
High blood sugar (hyperglycemia).
The most common side effects in any study of ADCETRIS were: nerve damage (peripheral neuropathy), feeling tired, nausea, diarrhea, a low number of white blood cells, infection of the nose or sinuses, fever, constipation, vomiting, hair loss, weight loss, upper stomach pain, a low number of red blood cells, sores or swelling in the mouth, a low number of lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell), sores or swelling in the digestive tract, decrease in platelets, and fever with a low number of white blood cells.
These are not all the possible side effects of ADCETRIS. Tell your doctor about any side effect that bothers you or does not go away. If you have certain side effects, your doctor may lower your dose, delay, or stop your ADCETRIS treatment.
Before receiving ADCETRIS, tell your healthcare provider about all your medical conditions, including if you:
-Have or have had any kidney, liver, or lung problems, an infection, or diabetes.
-Are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed during treatment with ADCETRIS.
-If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. ADCETRIS may harm your unborn baby. Females who are able to become pregnant: Your doctor may do a pregnancy test before starting ADCETRIS treatment. You should use effective birth control during ADCETRIS treatment and for 2 months after your last dose of ADCETRIS. Tell your doctor right away if you become pregnant or think you are pregnant during ADCETRIS treatment. Men with female partners who can get pregnant should use effective birth control during ADCETRIS treatment and for 4 months after the last dose.
Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take. Do not start taking a new medicine without telling your healthcare provider.
This is only a summary of important information about ADCETRIS. Talk to your healthcare provider to learn more or go to www.adcetris.com/ for Important Facts about ADCETRIS.