HEMATOLOGY

The treatment paradigm of acute myeloid leukemia has not changed much in the last several decades, but with 4 new drugs approved by the FDA within the span of a few months, 2017 easily became the most promising year yet for the treatment of AML.

Constantine S. Tam, MD, associate professor, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, discusses the phase III DUO trial, a randomized comparison of duvelisib versus ofatumumab (Arzerra) in patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic leukemia.

Denosumab was recently recommended for approval by the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use for the prevention of skeletal-related events in patients with multiple myeloma, according to Amgen, the developer of the RANK ligand inhibitor.

Brad S. Kahl, MD,&nbsp;discusses the latest data for ibrutinib and highlighted emerging treatments in MCL.<br /> &nbsp;

According to phase I findings published in <em>The Lancet Oncology,</em>&nbsp;an&nbsp;objective response rate of 37% was induced in patients with&nbsp;relapsed/refractory lymphoma or chronic lymphocytic leukemia treated with the&nbsp;PI3K-delta inhibitor umbralisib.

Sattva S. Neelapu, MD, associate professor, Department of Lymphoma/Myeloma, Division of Cancer Medicine, at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses long-term findings of the ZUMA-1 trial investigating axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel; Yescarta) in patients with refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Treatment with the&nbsp;CD19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy lisocabtagene maraleucel (liso-cel, formally known as JCAR017) demonstrated&nbsp;a complete response rate of 63% and an&nbsp;objective response rate of 81%&nbsp;in patients with&nbsp;relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Saad Z. Usmani, MD, Department of Hematologic Oncology and Blood Disorders, Levine Cancer Institute/Carolinas HealthCare System, highlights some of the ongoing studies presented at the 2017 ASH Annual Meeting.

Peter Martin, MD,&nbsp;reflects on the MCL data presented at the 2017 ASH Annual Meeting, and shared his insight on the future of clinical trials in the disease.

Brian T. Hill, MD, PhD,&nbsp;shares more insight on acalabrutinib and ibrutinib&rsquo;s efficacy in patients with MCL and highlights emerging novel strategies in the treatment landscape.

C. Ola Landgren, MD, PhD, recently shared the treatment considerations and decisions he makes when treating patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma

Enrollment in a phase I/II clinical trial began recently for a study of PT-112 monotherapy in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, according a news release from Phosplatin Therapeutics LLC, the company developing the small molecule conjugate.

Combining consolidative radioimmunotherapy and sequential maintenance rituximab following chemoimmunotherapy improved progression-free survival at 3 years in patients with previously untreated follicular lymphoma, according to findings from the phase II SWOG S0801 study recently published in <em>The Lancet Hematology</em>.

Based on findings from a phase I trial presented at the 2017 ASH Annual Meeting, ivosidenib (AG-120) has been granted a priority review designation by the FDA for the&nbsp;treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory <em>IDH1</em>-mutant acute myeloid leukemia.

The clinical course of chronic lymphocytic leukemia is highly variable, and a subset of patients may never need clinical intervention. However, most patients will eventually require treatment during their disease.

Using next-generation squencing methods, researchers are attempting to combine clinical and genomic biomarkers to identify patients with smoldering multiple myeloma who are at high risk for disease progression.

Susan O&rsquo;Brien, MD,&nbsp; discusses the tremendous impact that has been seen with ibrutinib following the long-term follow-up of the RESONATE studies and highlights where this regimen is headed in the future of treatment for patients with CLL.

Based on improved insight into chronic lymphocytic leukemia biology and pathophysiology, approaches to identify patients who are at higher risk for disease progression have been refined, as have strategies to select therapies that maximize treatment outcomes due to their selectivity for distinctive phenotypic or physiological features of the respective CLL cells.

Matthew S. Davids, MD,&nbsp;sheds light on the significant findings of this study and gave a look ahead to ibrutinib combination therapies in the future treatment landscape of CLL.

According to recently published results of the&nbsp;international, double-blind randomized phase III 482 Study&nbsp;in&nbsp;<em>The Lancet Oncology,&nbsp;</em>^&nbsp;denosumab was noninferior to zoledronic acid (Zometa) in preventing skeletal-related event in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.

Prospects for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia have improved with the use of targeted agents such as ibrutinib; however, complete remissions are rare, and treatment options for patients relapsing after treatment with ibrutinib remain limited.

Recent years have seen major advances in diagnostic approaches in CLL, and disease assessment may now include analysis of multiple genetic mutations in addition to recurrent cytogenetic changes. Furthermore, with the development of novel treatment approaches, the significance of prognostic markers is shifting.

Overall survival was extended for patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma by nearly 8 months with the&nbsp;combination of carfilzomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone compared with&nbsp;lenalidomide and dexamethasone alone in results from the phase III ASPIRE trial.

Based on supporting data from the phase III DUO trial and the phase II DYNAMO study, duvelisib has been submitted to the FDA for a full approval&nbsp;for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma and an accelerated approval for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma.

Matthew S. Davids, MD, Associate Director, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Center for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, discusses a multicenter study of ibrutinib (Imbruvica) plus FCR as a frontline therapy for younger patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).&nbsp;<br /> &nbsp;

Lymphoma expert Andrew M. Evens, DO, MSc, FACP, has joined Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey as associate director. He is also serving as medical director of the oncology service line at RWJBarnabas Health. Evens will focus on integrated cancer care delivery in his roles across both institutions.

Patients with relapsed/refractory myeloma&nbsp;who had prior exposure to lenalidomide (Revlimid) experienced a significant improvement in&nbsp;progression-free survival with pomalidomide (Pomalyst) added to the combination of bortezomib (Velcade) and low-dose dexamethasone,&nbsp;according to findings from the phase III OPTIMISMM trial.

Matthew S. Davids, MD, MMSc, recently discussed the treatment choices for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and the factors he considers when choosing a treatment, based on 2 patient cases.

Progression-free survival was improved by nearly 15% with CHOP-RIT compared with R-CHOP alone in previously untreated patients with follicular lymphoma,&nbsp;according to findings from the phase III SWOG-S0016 trial published in the <em>Journal of Clinical Oncology</em>.