LEUKEMIAS

“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…"

A new randomized placebo-controlled study finds patients with acute myeloid leukemia who cannot undergo intensive chemotherapy have improved outcomes when given venetoclax in addition to low-dose cytarabine.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Anthony Mato, MD, discussed the findings of venetoclax interruptions or discontinuations observed in patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia who received the combination of venetoclax plus rituximab in the phase 3 MURANO study.

All patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia should be evaluated for both complex karyotypes and del17p prior to initiating treatment, and all patients with complex karyotypes should be considered candidates for alternative combination therapy.

During the Virtual 25th Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA), a group of physicians described their experiences and recommendations for managing patients with myeloid malignancies during the COVID-19 pandemic and after.

“[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."

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Jeff P. Sharman, MD, discussed the findings for the combination of ublituximab plus ibrutinib as treatment of patients with high-risk relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

"The ability for NGS to assess response across a continuum of relevant MRD threshold levels is an important consideration for applying MRD testing in clinical practice."

Jae Park, MD, discusses adverse events associated with chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies, such as neurotoxicity, for patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Steve A. Soper, PhD, discussed microfluidic platforms for use in isolating circulating leukemia cells and plasma cells in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia.

There is a significant unmet clinical need [for] treatment of CML globally. This Orphan Drug Designation from FDA marks a major milestone for HQP1351..."

The longest follow-up for ibrutinib monotherapy to date maintained the benefit of the Bruton&rsquo;s tyrosine kinase inhibitor for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma across settings.<br /> &nbsp;

Jennifer Woyach, MD, discusses the frontline options for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

The appropriate gap between diagnosis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and treatment is now clearer as a new prognostic tool, IPS-E, that can predict the length of &ldquo;watch and wait&rdquo; has been introduced, according to a press release from the American Society of Hematology.

Rajneesh Nath, MD, discusses the rationale for phase III SIERRA trial, which evaluated the anti-CD45 monoclonal antibody apamistamab followed by fludarabine/total body irradiation and allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation in patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia.

Although fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and rituximab may be efficient in inducing remission for the treatment of patients with Binet A high-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia, recent data published in&nbsp;Leukemia&nbsp;suggest there is no evidence that this would be better than the current standard of care, which is the &ldquo;watch and wait&rdquo; approach.

Jeff P. Sharman, MD, discusses the secondary end points from the&nbsp;<u><strong><a href="https://www.targetedonc.com/conference/ash-2019/patients-with-cll-treated-on-the-elevatetn-trial-experience-improved-pfs-with-acalabrutinib">phase III ELEVATE-TN&nbsp;trial</a></strong></u>, which evaluated the role of acalabrutinib, either as a single agent or in combination with obinutuzumab in patients with treatment-naive chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

A phase II trial of ficlatuzumab, an investigational HGF inhibitory antibody, in patients with relapsed and refractory acute myeloid leukemia joins the growing list of clinical trials halted due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology,&nbsp;Patrick Brown, MD, discussed the results from the randomized phase III study evaluating blinatumomab in patients with B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Venetoclax in combination with azacytidine demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in overall survival and achieved a satisfactory composite complete remission rate in previously untreated patients with acute myeloid leukemia, meeting the co-primary end points of the phase III VIALE-A study. Genentech, the developer of venetoclax, announced the positive news in a press release, also noting that safety profiles of both drugs were consistent with prior reports.

Bendamustine debulking followed by ofatumumab and ibrutinib demonstrated an overall response rate of 92% in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, meeting the primary end point of the phase II CLL2-BIO trial, and was well-tolerated with no new safety signals. Results from the study were published in&nbsp;Haematologica.

After demonstrating promising results that were comparable to targeted therapies in the first 2 cohorts of a phase I clinical trial, the combination of cladribine, cytarabine, granulocyte-colony stimulating factor, and mitoxantrone plus the antibody radiation conjugate lintuzumab-Ac225 in patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia is now being explored in a third cohort.

Alexey V. Danilov, MD, PhD, discusses important studies in the chronic lymphocytic leukemia space and questions whether combination or sequential therapy is better for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Alexey V. Danilov, MD, PhD, discussed the ELEVATE-TN trial and other potentially practice-changing BTK inhibitor combinations expected to emerge in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

The combination of venetoclax plus low-dose cytarabine did not demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in overall survival compared with LDAC plus placebo in patients with acute myeloid leukemia who were ineligible for intensive chemotherapy at the time of a planned analysis, missing the primary end point of the phase III VIALE-C trial.

In an interview with <em>Targeted Oncology</em>, Rajneesh Nath, MD, discussed the background and rationale for the phase III SIERRA trial. He also explained what this research means for the treatment landscape of acute myeloid leukemia.&nbsp;

Jeff P.&nbsp;Sharman, MD, discusses what differentiates acalabrutinib from other BTK inhibitors available in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Next-generation sequencing in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia treated with the combination of chlorambucil and ofatumumab showed that the presence of&nbsp;TP53,&nbsp;SF3B1,&nbsp;and&nbsp;NOTCH1&nbsp;mutations were predictive of reduced efficacy, according to the results of the phase III COMPLEMENT1 trial published in&nbsp;Haematologica.

Courtney D. DiNardo, MD, MSCE, explains the rationale for the phase II AG221-AML-005 trial.

Following the FDA approval of gemtuzumab ozogamicin with induction and consolidation therapy in newly diagnosed CD33-positive acute myeloid leukemia, investigators led by Richard F. Schlenk, MD, hypothesized that patients with NPM1-mutated acute myeloid leukemia,&nbsp;which occurs in 20% to 30% of the patient population,&nbsp;could also derive benefit from gemtuzumab.