HEMATOLOGY

General Cancer

Paul G. Richardson, MD, clinical program leader and director of Clinical Research in the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses results from the phase III OPTIMISMM trial comparing treatment regimens for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. This data compares a regimen of pomalidomide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone versus bortezomib and dexamethasone alone. 

Progression-free survival was not improved by combining pixantrone with rituximab compared with gemcitabine plus rituximab in patients with aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma enrolled in the phase III PIX306 trial, according to CTI BioPharma, the manufacturer of pixantrone.

Elotuzumab (Empliciti) added to pomalidomide (Pomalyst) and dexamethasone reduced the risk of disease progression by 46% in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma compared with pomalidomide and dexamethasone alone, according to findings from the phase II ELOQUENT-3 trial presented at the 2018 EHA Congress.

In an analysis of patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma enrolled on the phase Ib MMY1001 trial, daratumumab (Darzalex) was shown to be safe and effective when added to the backbone of carfilzomib (Kyprolis) and dexamethasone. These findings, which were presented during the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting, signaled promising efficacy in patients who are refractory to lenalidomide (Revlimid), according to lead study author Ajai Chari, MD.

Treating AML With Myelodysplasia-Related Changes

Treatment Options and Care for Patients Who Develop Therapy-Related AML

Martin Hutchings, MD, PhD, senior consultant in the Department of Hematology at the Copenhagen University Hospital, discusses common implications in treating patients with advanced stage Hodgkin lymphoma. Trials rarely perform subgroup analyses, and when they do, it is common for researchers to come across particular biases in the selected subgroups. 

Dasatinib has been granted approval by the European Commission as a treatment for children and adolescent patients aged 1 to 18 years with Philadelphia chromosome–positive chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase, according to Bristol-Myers Squibb, the manufacturer of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor.

Catherine Bollard, MBChB, MD, FRACP, FRCPA, will be bringing the latest cell therapies from the laboratory into clinical application in her new role as associate center director for translational research and innovation at The George Washington University Cancer Center. Bollard is currently a professor of pediatrics and microbiology, immunology, and tropical medicine at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

CPX-351, a fixed-combination of daunorubicin and cytarabine, has been recommended for approval by the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use for the treatment of adult patients with newly diagnosed therapy-related acute myeloid leukemia or AML with myelodysplasia-related changes.

The FDA approved several indications in the month of June, including venetoclax (Venclexta) in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and small lymphocytic leukemia (SLL), the combination of binimetinib (Mektovi) plus encorafenib (Braftovi) in melanoma, and bevacizumab (Avastin) in ovarian cancer. The FDA also accelerated approvals for pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in cervical cancer and in primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma, while also granting a priority review to glasdegib for acute myeloid leukemia.

Based on data from the phase II BRIGHT 1003 study, the FDA has granted a priority review to a new drug application for glasdegib for use in combination with chemotherapy for the frontline treatment of patients with acute myeloid leukemia, according to Pfizer, the developer of the investigational oral smoothened inhibitor.

William B. Donnellan, MD, was recently promoted to director of Leukemia/Myelodysplastic Syndrome Research at the Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Nashville, Tennessee. Donnellan has served as an investigator of hematologic malignancies since 2014 at the Sarah Cannon Research Institute.

An overall response rate of 60% was induced with venetoclax (Venclexta) monotherapy in patients with poor-risk relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma who were previously treated with a BTK inhibitor, according to results presented at the 2018 European Hematology Association Congress. Of the responding patients, 20% had a complete response.

A supplemental new drug application for ibrutinib in combination with rituximab has been granted a priority review by the FDA. According to Pharmacyclics and Janssen Biotech, the codevelopers of ibrutinib, this combination could be a treatment option across all lines of therapy for patients with Waldenström macroglobulinemia.