LEUKEMIAS

The FDA has granted a full approval and label update to ponatinib (Iclusig) for patients with chronic phase (CP), accelerated phase, or blast phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) or Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph+ ALL).

The FDA has granted a priority review to the multikinase inhibitor midostaurin as a treatment for patients with newly-diagnosed&nbsp;<em>FLT3</em>-mutated acute myeloid leukemia or advanced systemic mastocytosis.

Immune checkpoint inhibitor development is progressing as treatments for patients with acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome, with a number of studies currently assessing new combination strategies.

Steven Coutre, MD,&nbsp;professor of medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, discusses the benefits and drawbacks of the different frontline treatment options for&nbsp;chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

Alessandra Ferrajoli, MD,&nbsp;discusses the challenge with secondary malignancies in patients with CLL.

William G. Wierda, MD, PhD, discusses&nbsp;provided his expert insight on the frontline treatment of patients with CLL.

Richard R. Furman, MD emphasizes that physicians should follow their best independent judgment regarding therapy selection in CLL, regardless of FDA approval.

The positive opinion for the BCL-2 inhibitor has been sent to the European Commission, which usually issues its final approval decision within 2 to 3 months of the CHMP recommendation.

Steve Coutre, MD, discusses how he determines which CLL treatment option is best for which patient, the advantage of treating patients with ibrutinib over chemoimmunotherapy, and new oral agents currently being investigated in the space.

William G. Wierda, MD, PhD,&nbsp;medical director of the Leukemia Center at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the management of CLL treatment in the frontline setting.

William G. Wierda, MD, PhD,&nbsp;discusses which groups of CLL patients may benefit from ibrutinib versus chemoimmunotherapy and clinical trials that may provide further clarification.

Jennifer Woyach, MD, offers her expert insight into the practical clinical use of CLL treatments.

Nitin Jain, MD, assistant professor, Department of Leukemia, Division of Cancer Medicine, MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the checkpoint inhibitors under investigation in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

Focusing primarily on the therapeutic categories of PI3K and BTK inhibitors, O&rsquo;Brien, associate director for clinical science at the Chao Comprehensive Cancer Center, acknowledged efforts to build on existing success but said the hoped-for progress and advances await definitive data.

Bruce Cheson, MD,&nbsp;outlines the treatment choices for each of the 3 patient categories of CLL, noting that, regardless of the treatment, &ldquo;a clinical trial is always the preferred option.&rdquo;

With a number of effective targeted therapies now available for patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms and chronic myeloid leukemia, patient selection for transplantation should rely heavily on prognostic scoring.

Naval Daver, MD, assistant professor, Department of Leukemia, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses agents being investigated in acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Results from the phase Ib M13-365 study showed&nbsp;combining the BCL-2 inhibitor venetoclax (Venclexta) with the anti-CD20 agent rituximab (Rituxan) led to objective responses in 86% of patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

The FDA has approved ofatumumab (Arzerra) in combination with fludarabine and cyclophosphamide as a treatment for patients with relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The approval was based on an improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) in the phase III COMPLEMENT-2 study.

Two-thirds of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia who ceased to receive the TKI treatment imatinib did not relapse after six months, according to Johan Richter, MD, PhD.

Blinatumomab almost doubles the overall survival of patients with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia, according to Max Topp, MD.

Richard M. Stone, MD, Program Director, Adult Leukemia Program, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the CALGB 10603 trial, which explored the use of midostaurin as a treatment for patients with FLT3-mutated acute myeloid leukemia.

Pracinostat has received a breakthrough therapy designation from the FDA, when given in combination with azacitidine, for the treatment of patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) aged 75 years or older, or for those who are ineligible for intensive chemotherapy, according to MEI Pharma, the company developing pracinostat.

Frankie Ann Holmes, MD, medical oncologist, Texas Oncology, discusses the implications of the results of the MA17R trial, which is a randomized phase III clinical trial that examined the benefits of extending aromatase inhibitors with letrozole as a treatment for postmenopausal patients with early breast cancer.

Raoul Tibes, MD, PhD, physician-scientist at the University Hospital Head Myeloid Malignancies, Department of Internal Medicine II at the University Hospital in W&uuml;rzburg, and adjunct consultant at Mayo Clinic, discusses the role of FLT3 inhibitors in the treatment of patients with acute myeloid leukemia.

Survivors of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) produce antibodies that kill leukemia cells following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) that can be used to treat other patients with AML.

Patients with chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) can safely conclude treatment of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) following a maintained deep molecular remission, according to findings from the large EURO-SKI trial presented at the 2016 European Hematology Association (EHA) Congress.

Final data from a phase III trial of CPX-351 (Vyxeos) in older patients with high-risk, secondary acute myeloid leukemia (AML) revealed that CPX-351 reduced the mortality risk by 31% compared with cytarabine and daunorubicin (7+3), according to findings presented at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.

The FDA has lifted a clinical hold placed on a phase II study exploring the CD19-targeted CAR-T cell therapy JCAR015 for adult patients with relapsed or refractory B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

The anti-CD22 antibody-drug conjugate inotuzumab ozogamicin demonstrated significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) and complete remission (CR) rates compared with chemotherapy for patients with relapsed or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).