PHASE II MULTICENTER, NOT COMPARATIVE, STUDY OF MULTIPLE DOSES OF NEPA (NETUPITANT plus PALONOSETRON) IN PREVENTING CHEMOTHERAPY-INDUCED NAUSEA AND VOMITING IN NON-HODGKIN LYMPHOMA PATIENTS ELIGIBLE FOR AUTOLOGOUS HEMATOPOIETIC STEM CELL TRANSPLANTATION RECEIVING MULTIPLE DAY/HIGH DOSE CHEMOTHERAPY REGIMENS

Cancer chemotherapy may be associated with a high incidence of nausea and vomiting (CINV), which may occur acutely within 24 hours after the start of chemotherapy (acute phase) or in the following days (delayed phase). Despite the availability of several antiemetics, clinical findings show that control of nausea and vomiting continue to be a serious concern for hematological patients, mainly for those receiving multiple-day (MD) and high-dose (HD) chemotherapy (CT), for which no specific international recommendations have been formulated, due to the lack of a unanimous consensus between the main international guidelines. NEPA is the first antiemetic developed as an oral fixed dose combination of two drugs that are antagonists of two receptors involved in the control of nausea and vomiting: a new highly selective NK1-RA, netupitant, and a second generation 5HT3-RA, palonosetron, that simplify the antiemetic regimen allowing for a lower number of capsules and days of treatment. In clinical practice, NEPA is administered together with dexamethasone that contributes to CINV prophylaxis by its intrinsic antiemetic properties. However, dexamethasone also exhibits an important immunosuppressive activity, which could lead to several adverse events, such as increasing the risk of serious infections, especially in patients undergoing myeloablative treatment.