HEMATOLOGY

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Marco Mielcarek, MD, PhD, discussed how COVID-19 has impacted the treatment of patients with blood cancers in Washington State.

Kami J. Maddocks, MD, discusses the use of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitors in patients with B-cell malignancies and how that may change in the future to provide more treatment options for these patients.

The median overall survival among patients receiving rigosertib in the intent-to-treat population was 6.4 months compared with 6.3 months with the physician’s choice as treatment of patients with higher-risk myelodysplastic syndrome.

Adding a subcutaneous formulation of daratumumab to the triplet regimen cyclophosphamide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone may hold promise for patients with newly diagnosed light chain amyloidosis who are in urgent need of new treatment options, according to a clinical trial.

The Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee of the FDA voted 9 to 1 in favor of the approval of remestemcel-L, an allogeneic cell therapy, for the treatment of children with steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Guillermo Garcia-Manero, MD, discussed the FDA’s recent approval of oral decitabine and cedazuridine as treatment of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes and the data that supported this decision.

The FDA has approved tafasitamab-cxix in combination with lenalidomide for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma not otherwise specific, including DLBCL arising from low-grade lymphoma, and patients who are not eligible for autologous stem cell transplant.

The FDA granted a Breakthrough Therapy Designation to the investigational agent pevonedistat as treatment of patients with higher-risk myelodysplastic syndrome.

Researchers conducted the first known health-related quality of life single-institution study to gather data on patients with Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia, which showed positive and negative health-related quality of life outcomes for patients, following effective treatment.

“Given that the majority of the data analyzed in the study came from patients with relapsed/refractory disease, both autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation and allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation afford relatively high complete response rates when compared with established chemo-immunotherapy regimens and novel agents."

A Biologics License Application has been submitted to the FDA for inolimomab as a potential treatment for adult patients with steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease, grade II-IV,.

Ruxolitinib demonstrated a superior overall response rate versus best available treatment at week 24 in patients with steroid-refractory or steroid-dependent chronic graft-versus-host-disease, according to topline results from the phase 3 REACH3 study.

A 100% objective response rate was observed with CLR 131 as treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma and Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia in the ongoing phase 2 CLOVER-1 study.

Richard R. Furman, MD, discusses the distinguishing features between the 3 different Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitors as treatment of patients with B-cell malignancies.

The FDA has granted an Orphan Drug designation to APG-2575 for the treatment of patients with Waldenström macroglobulinemia.

“In this single-arm, phase 2 study, the combination of ofatumumab with the hyper-CVAD regimen resulted in a high proportion of adult patients with Ph-negative CD20- positive B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia having durable remission and long-term survival…"

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Naval G. Daver, MD, discussed the safety and efficacy findings of margolimab as treatment of patients with TP53-positive AML and high-risk MDS.

FDA has granted approval to the combination regimen decitabine and cedazuridine as treatment of adult patients with myelodysplastic syndromes under multiple indications.

“[This] report on the diagnosis of blood cancers in the US/Mexico border inure the different frequency of leukemia subtypes and their outcomes, highlighting important health disparities due to different access to diagnosis and care due to a series of factors."

"This interim analysis demonstrated ropeginterferon in low-risk patients is more efficacious in keeping the hematocrit [at target levels]. In addition, we get a better quality of life and the target was reached with a reduction of phlebotomy needs."

"The data from this ongoing trial of eprenetapopt with azacitidine continue to be very encouraging in these most difficult-to-treat [patients with] TP53-mutant MDS and AML, who not only have at least one TP53 mutation but the majority of whom also have high risk cytogenetic abnormalities,."

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Raajit K. Rampal, MD, PhD, hematologic oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discussed the novel agent, APR-246, and its significance for use in the patients with myelodysplastic syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia

“Ide-cel demonstrated frequent, deep, and durable responses in heavily pretreated, highly relapsed/refractory patients with myeloma. Overall, ide-cel provides an attractive option for the treatment of patients with triple-class exposed relapsed/refractory myeloma."

"The totality of data from the two trials presented at ASCO suggests that zanubrutinib may be a preferred treatment option for patients with WM, regardless of whether they have received prior treatment."

“Preliminary data for the 18 patients who have received belantamab mafodotin 2.5 mg/kg single dosing with bortezomib/dexamethasone suggests that this combination has an acceptable safety profile with no new safety signals identified. Clinical response looks promising."

Selinexor in combination with bortezomib and dexamethasone resulted in improvements in responses and outcomes compared with bortezomib and dexamethasone alone in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, according to findings from the phase 3 BOSTON trial from the 2020 ASCO Virtual Scientific Program.

"These results demonstrate the potential of belumosudil to become a cornerstone of the cGVHD treatment paradigm if approved, as it delivers meaningful and sustained benefits to patients with this serious condition."

Jerald P. Radich, MD, discusses how minimal residual disease is measured in hematologic malignancies.

"These results have the potential to substantially move the field forward and represent an important step toward making stem cell transplantation more accessible and more successful for patients with lethal blood cancers. Shortening the time to engraftment is clinically meaningful, as it can reduce a patient’s time in the hospital and decrease likelihood of infection."