The scientific revolution in determining the genetic basis of cancer is finally bearing fruit in hematologic neoplasms such as acute myeloid leukemia (AML), where over the past decade a number of effective new drugs have expanded our armamentarium and provided effective—and in some cases...
“Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence.” – Ovid The 2025 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition delivered multiple practice-changing datasets surrounding T-cell–redirecting therapies in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma....
The first prospective, randomized phase III trial of a noncovalent Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor exclusively in treatment-naive patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)/small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL)—BRUIN CLL-313—demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically...
For patients with previously treated multiple myeloma, the greatest risk reduction yet achieved in a phase III clinical trial was reported with the BCMA-directed CD3 T-cell engager teclistamab-cqyv plus daratumumab and hyaluronidase-fihj. Treatment with this combination resulted in an 83% reduction ...
Based on the phase III CLL17 trial, a fixed duration of targeted treatment demonstrated noninferiority to continuous treatment with respect to progression-free survival in previously untreated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The findings were presented at the Plenary Session of...
In the phase III BRUIN CLL-314 trial, response rates were found to be as good with the noncovalent Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor pirtobrutinib as with ibrutinib in both patients with treatment-naive and relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic...
The combination of the hypomethylating agent azacitidine and the BCL2 inhibitor venetoclax is an established regimen in older, unfit patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Now, a phase II randomized trial indicates potential for less intensive therapy in the newly diagnosed fit population. In...
A higher absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) after receipt of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy may be associated with improved progression-free and/or overall survival in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, according to findings from the 2025 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual...
Mikkael Sekeres, MD, MS, Chief, Division of Hematology and Professor of Medicine at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, presents findings from a new study that connects exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange to earlier and more severe...
Nitin Jain, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, reviews findings from a phase II trial of pirtobrutinib, venetoclax, and obinutuzumab for patients with Richter transformation (Abstract 89).
Researchers have published valuable information about a rare but serious complication of cancer immunotherapy, providing the first large-scale description of its risk factors and clinical course and underscoring the importance of early diagnosis and treatment. The findings were published by Leaf et ...
Researchers presented new data from two ongoing studies of pivekimab sunirine, an antibody-drug conjugate targeting CD123, in treating two aggressive blood cancers at the 2025 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition. In a phase Ib/II trial led by Naval Daver, MD,...
Andrew Portuguese, MD, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, discusses findings from a multicenter analysis from the U.S. Multiple Myeloma Immunotherapy Consortium looking at the real-world safety and efficacy of the BCMA-CD3 bispecific antibody elranatamab (Abstract 136).
Amer Zeidan, MBBS, of Yale School of Medicine, shares results from the phase I/II BEXMAB study, which examined the safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy of bexmarilimab—a novel macrophage checkpoint inhibitor targeting Clever-1—in combination with the standard of care, azacitidine, in...
Amer Zeidan, MBBS, of Yale School of Medicine, discusses findings from an analysis of the IMerge trial, which explored the possible association between imetelstat-related cytopenias and hemoglobin increase—a measure linked to red blood cell transfusion independence achievement—in patients with...
The addition of the investigational monoclonal antibody ianalumab to eltrombopag extended the time to treatment failure in patients with primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) after prior treatment with corticosteroids, according to findings from the phase III VAYHIT2 trial presented at the 2025...
Patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma treated in the third-line setting with a single infusion of the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy lisocabtagene maraleucel continued to show responses after 3 years, according to long-term follow-up results from the TRANSCEND FL...
Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have identified CD40 overexpression as a potential prognostic biomarker in angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL), a rare subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that is difficult to diagnose and treat. The results of their study were...
A multicenter trial led by investigators at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center demonstrated that a 5-day regimen of azacitidine provides the best balance of efficacy and safety for patients with lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). The researchers compared three abbreviated...
The noncovalent Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor pirtobrutinib achieved noninferiority to the covalent BTK inhibitor ibrutinib in terms of overall response rate in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL), according to findings from a randomized...
Initial results from the phase III GIMEMA ALL2820 trial demonstrated that a front-line, chemotherapy-free regimen combining the tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) ponatinib and the bispecific T-cell engager blinatumomab significantly outperformed a standard treatment strategy of imatinib plus...
Updated findings from the phase II iMMagine-1 study show that anitocabtagene autoleucel (anito-cel), an investigational CAR T-cell therapy for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, continues to deliver high response rates with a reassuring safety profile. Researchers from The University of Texas ...
When epcoritamab was added to lenalidomide and rituximab, response rates were significantly higher and progression-free survival was prolonged for patients with follicular lymphoma treated in the second-line setting or beyond, according to findings from the phase III EPCORE FL-1 trial presented at...
The combination of azacitidine and venetoclax led to improved efficacy outcomes with fewer complications than standard intensive induction chemotherapy as upfront treatment for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to trial findings presented at the 2025 American Society of...
Jennifer Woyach, MD, of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, reviews phase I data on rocbrutinib, a new selective next-generation inhibitor of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK), in patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and prior exposure to BTK and/or...
Jennifer Woyach, MD, of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses results from the first head-to-head comparison of pirtobrutinib vs ibrutinib in treatment-naive patients and patients with covalent Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor–naive relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic ...
Brian Ball, MD, of City of Hope, presents updated results from the phase I/II BEXMAB study. They showed that the doublet had encouraging activity in patients with TP53-mutant, higher-risk MDS; translational data support the combination regimen’s potential for altering immune dysregulation in this...
Alexander Lesokhin, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses results of a retrospective analysis from the phase II MagnetisMM-3 trial. A post hoc analysis was conducted of the subgroup of patients enrolled in the study who had a prolonged treatment interruption or who permanently...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) will honor U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Patty Murray (D-WA), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), as well as the patient groups Sick Cells, The Sickle Cell Disease Association of America (SCDAA), and The Sickle Cell Disease...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) presented the Wallace H. Coulter Award for Lifetime Achievement in Hematology to Rainer Storb, MD, during the Society’s Annual Congress held in Orlando. Dr. Storb is Professor Emeritus, Clinical Research Division, at Fred Hutch in Seattle. First awarded in...
A new multicenter study reports that nearly one-third of families with children undergoing chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) develop substantial financial hardships during the 2 years of treatment. These difficulties—defined as the inability to pay for housing, food, or utilities, ...
Karthik Ramasamy, MBBS, FRCP, FRCPath, PhD, of the University of Oxford, discusses initial results of the phase II/III UK-based RADAR trial. The study evaluated isatuximab, bortezomib, lenalidomide, dexamethasone, and cyclophosphamide induction, followed by single autologous stem cell transplant,...
Two-year event-free survival rates were above 75% for children, adolescent, and young adult patients with B-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia (B-ALL) who had negative measurable residual disease (MRD) by next-generation sequencing prior to hematopoietic cell transplantation and who received a...
Clinicians have traditionally prioritized high-level human leukocyte antigen (HLA) matching to minimize graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) after hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). New data from the ACCESS study, sponsored by the National Marrow Donor Program, indicate that the use of...
Shahzad Raza, MD, of Cleveland Clinic, presents updated phase II results of the RedirecTT-1 trial, focusing on the efficacy and safety of talquetamab combined with teclistamab in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma and extramedullary disease (Abstract 698). The study also received...
Aaron Gerds, MD, of Cleveland Clinic, reviews results of an evaluation of Synapsis AI, a medically trained, large language model–based end-to-end system, focusing on its accuracy and efficiency in identifying eligible patients for an active phase III polycythemia vera clinical trial (Abstract...
Dory Abelman, PhD(c), HBHSc, of the University of Toronto, discusses findings that support the feasibility of ultradeep cell-free DNA whole-genome sequencing for comprehensive genomic profiling in patients with multiple myeloma, which may be a less invasive alternative to bone marrow biopsy...
Measurable residual disease (MRD), regardless of the method of assessment, is a robust individual-level predictor for overall survival among patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who have already received induction therapy, according to findings from a pooled analysis presented at the 2025...
Guillermo Garcia-Manero, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, reviews data from three abstracts in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) presented at this year’s meeting: outcomes from the phase III VERONA trial of venetoclax with azacitidine vs placebo with azacitidine in patients...
Benjamin Diamond, MD, of the University of Miami, describes findings from the single-center phase II REKINDLE trial, which looked at the combination regimen of iberdomide, carfilzomib, daratumumab, and dexamethasone in patients with early relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (Abstract 251).
A new analysis spanning more than 3 decades of Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group and American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ECOG-ACRIN) clinical trial data demonstrates that Black patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) present with the disease at a significantly younger age and...
Krina Patel, MD, MSc, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, provides updated results from the fully enrolled, ongoing iMMagine-1 phase II registrational trial of anitocabtagene autoleucel, an autologous anti-BCMA CAR T-cell therapy with a novel D-domain binder. The agent is under...
Amir Fathi, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses data from the phase II PARADIGM trial, which prospectively tested whether azacitidine plus venetoclax was superior to intensive induction chemotherapy in fit patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML)—and could challenge...
Othman Al-Sawaf, MD, PhD, of the University Hospital of Cologne, presents results from the phase III CLL17 trial, which compared continuous ibrutinib monotherapy to fixed-duration venetoclax plus obinutuzumab to fixed-duration venetoclax plus ibrutinib for previously untreated patients with chronic ...
Early results from the CLL17 trial show that fixed-duration doublet regimens with venetoclax are noninferior to continuous ibrutinib therapy, with similar 3-year progression-free survival rates, for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), according to findings presented at the 2025...
Anand Patel, MD, of the University of Chicago, discusses results from a phase II trial that showed tyrosine kinase inhibitor plus inotuzumab ozogamicin–based therapy resulted in major molecular response in patients newly diagnosed with Philadelphia chromosome (Ph)-positive acute lymphoblastic...
Ibrahim Aldoss, MD, of City of Hope, presents findings from a small, single-center study of patients aged 55 years and older with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in first complete remission who were treated with CD19-directed CAR T-cell therapy. Researchers found the therapy was safe,...
The telomerase inhibitor imetelstat was approved for the treatment of certain patients with lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) based on the results of the phase III IMerge trial. Valeria Santini, MD, of the University of Florence, provides updates on secondary endpoints, including overall...
Jayastu Senapati, MBBS, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, presents initial results from a phase II trial of brexucabtagene autoleucel as consolidation therapy in front-line high-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) or relapsed/refractory B-ALL after cytoreduction...
Aaron Logan, MD, PhD, of UCSF Health, discusses research examining the effect of transplant before or after treatment with brexucabtagene autoleucel in the real world for adult patients with relapsed or refractory Philadelphia chromosome–negative B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) (Abstract...