The ASCO Post invited myeloma expert Philip L. McCarthy, MD, Director of the Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, New York, to comment on the trials evaluating early detection of myeloma at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual ...
Precursors to multiple myeloma were identified by population screening in two studies reported at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition. The prevalence of monoclonal gammopathies was determined in the PROMISE trial using cutting-edge technology in a high-risk ...
The phase III PANTHER trial, which evaluated pevonedistat plus azacitidine vs azacitidine alone in higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes, chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, and low–blast count acute myeloid leukemia (AML), failed to meet its primary endpoint of event-free survival, though lessons...
Tycel Phillips, MD, of the Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, discusses phase II findings from the CITADEL-204 study of parsaclisib, a next-generation inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase. The agent, used as a monotherapy, appeared to benefit patients with relapsed or refractory...
Mikkael A. Sekeres, MD, of Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami, called the results of the AGILE study “very promising.” He moderated a press briefing that featured the abstract at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition. “Patients with the...
In patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with an IDH1 mutation who were ineligible for intensive chemotherapy, the addition of the IDH1 inhibitor ivosidenib to azacitidine significantly improved survival vs azacitidine alone, according to data presented at the 2021 American...
Romanos Sklavenitis-Pistofidis, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses study findings on a next generation of clinical assays to assess both tumor biology and immune state, as well as common clinical biomarkers in the marrow or blood. These biomarkers may accurately predict which patients...
Anil Aktas-Samur, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses study findings on the genomic characterization of non-progressor smoldering multiple myeloma, results that may provide a molecular definition of the disease as well as its risk-driving features. Combining this low-risk model with...
Musa Yilmaz, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses study results suggesting that quizartinib with decitabine and venetoclax is active in patients with FLT3-ITD–mutated acute myeloid leukemia and that RAS/MAPK mutations continue to drive primary and secondary resistance ...
Manali Kamdar, MD, of the University of Colorado Cancer Center, discusses phase III results from the TRANSFORM study, which suggest that lisocabtagene maraleucel, a CD19-directed CAR T-cell therapy, improved outcomes with a favorable safety profile and may be a potential new standard of care for...
Joe Schroers-Martin, MD, of Stanford University, discusses his latest study findings, which show that follicular lymphoma driver mutations are detectable in blood and saliva years prior to a clinical diagnosis. These data build on previous work and suggest that researchers may be able to stratify...
Nikhil C. Munshi, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the findings from a large nationwide Veterans Affairs study, which showed that, for patients with multiple myeloma, the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine is reduced, likely due to patients’ immunosuppression. Dr. Munshi...
Sangeetha Venugopal, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses a retrospective analysis of 562 patients with treated secondary acute myeloid leukemia and prior exposure to hypomethylating agents (HMAs). The results showed that an HMA plus venetoclax yielded significantly...
Andrew Matthews, MD, of the Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania, discusses findings from a retrospective study at an academic institution, which showed there was no statistically significant difference in overall survival between induction with CPX-351 and venetoclax/azacitidine for...
Molecular and genetic research has advanced the categorization of different risk groups in patients with smoldering myeloma. Notable presentations at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition included reports on biomarkers to predict response to immunotherapy in...
In the past decade, use of immunotherapy has arisen as a novel adjunct to multiple myeloma therapy. Daratumumab is the first anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in November 2015, for use in treating relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.1...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) recognized Peter Marks, MD, PhD, Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), for his outstanding commitment to hematology in overseeing the approval of therapeutics that improve the...
Krish Patel, MD, Director of the Lymphoma Program at the Swedish Cancer Institute in Seattle and Interim Director of the Hematological Malignancies and Cellular Therapy Program, commented on the implications of Dr. Soumerai’s presentation. “We know that, in general, reaching [undetectable...
Achieving undetectable measurable residual disease (MRD) is an important milestone in the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) as well as those with other hematologic malignancies undergoing treatment. Now a small phase II study, presented at the 2021 American Society of...
Alba Rodriguez-Meira, DPhil, of the University of Oxford, discusses a comprehensive analysis of the genetic, cellular, and molecular landscape of TP53-mediated transformation, providing insights into the evolution of chronic hematologic malignancies toward an aggressive acute leukemia. Because TP53 ...
Leslie S. Kean, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, discusses findings from her analysis of the International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research Database, which led to the recent FDA approval of abatacept for the prevention of acute graft-vs-host disease...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) recognized three Choosing Wisely Champions—individuals working to tackle the overuse of hematology tests and treatments—at the 63rd ASH Annual Meeting & Exposition, held December 11–14 in Atlanta. Choosing Wisely is an initiative that seeks to advance a...
The 2021 ASH Annual Meeting & Exposition took place from December 11 to 14. This week, we’re highlighting two studies featured as late-breaking abstracts at the meeting.
Eunice S. Wang, MD, of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses phase III results showing that gilteritinib and azacitidine led to significantly higher composite complete response rates in patients with newly diagnosed FLT3-mutant acute myeloid leukemia who are ineligible for intensive...
Roni Shouval, MD, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses his findings, which show, for the first time, that TP53 alterations are a valuable prognostic and potentially predictive marker in patients with large B-cell lymphoma who receive CD19–CAR T-cell therapy. Gene-expression...
Michael R. Bishop, MD, of the University of Chicago, discusses insights from findings of the phase III BELINDA study, which may inform the design of future CAR T-cell trials, as well as the use of second-line tisagenlecleucel therapy in patients with relapsed or refractory aggressive B-cell...
Carsten Utoft Niemann, MD, PhD, of Copenhagen University Hospital, discusses a primary analysis of the phase II Vision HO141 trial, which showed the feasibility of stopping and restarting ibrutinib and venetoclax in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia who have...
Masayuki Umeda, MD, of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, discusses his research which showed that UBTF-TD (upstream binding transcription factor-tandem duplications) define a unique subtype of acute myeloid leukemia that previously lacked a clear oncogenic driver. UBTF-TD is associated with...
Research demonstrating a novel approach that may reduce cytokine-release syndrome associated with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy was presented by Marcela Maus, MD, PhD, and colleagues at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition (Abstract 1723)...
A study presented by Matthew S. Davids, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and colleagues at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition (Abstract 640) suggests that a 2.5-year regimen involving ibrutinib and chemoimmunotherapy may provide deep and lasting...
Tarek H. Mouhieddine, MD, of The Mount Sinai Hospital and The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, discusses data that suggest patients with heavily pretreated, predominantly triple-class refractory multiple myeloma who relapse after treatment with bispecific antibodies may still have good...
Talha Badar, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, discusses the near-universal poor outcomes for patients with TP53-mutated acute myeloid leukemia and the findings that show allogeneic stem cell transplantation appears to improve the long-term survival in a subset of these patients. Effective therapies may...
The POLARIX study found patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) had a significantly higher likelihood of survival without disease progression 2 years after receiving a new drug combination known as pola-R-CHP (polatuzumab vedotin-piiq with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and...
In an analysis of the phase III BELINDA trial presented by Bishop et al during the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition (Abstract LBA-6), the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy tisagenlecleucel was not found to improve event-free survival over the...
In the primary analysis of the phase III ZUMA-7 trial, the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy axicabtagene ciloleucel led to a fourfold increase in event-free survival over the standard of care in the second-line treatment of relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma, according to...
In separate analyses of 257 patients with acute leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) who developed COVID-19 and are part of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) RC COVID-19 Registry for Hematology, both neutropenia and having active MDS or leukemia (vs being in remission) were found to...
Daniel A. Ermann, MD, of the Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, discusses results from the largest retrospective study on outcomes utilizing radiotherapy in early-stage diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Adding radiation to front-line multiagent chemotherapy was associated with a survival...
L. Elizabeth Budde, MD, PhD, of City of Hope, discusses phase I/II findings that showed mosunetuzumab monotherapy induces deep and durable remissions in patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma who have received two or more prior lines of treatment, including those with...
For the first-line treatment of newly diagnosed, transplant-eligible patients with multiple myeloma, the achievement of measurable residual disease (MRD) negativity was significantly greater when the anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody isatuximab was added to the standard three-drug induction regimen of...
Oncologists and health-care professionals who treat patients with high-risk acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are missing important opportunities to have end-of-life discussions at earlier stages in the disease course, when patients are best able to discuss their options and preferences. These findings...
According to a German study by Rotterdam et al presented at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition (Abstract 218), about 15% of people with blood cancers and other blood disorders had no vaccination-related antibodies after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine....
Patients with blood cancers, particularly those with more advanced disease, are at increased risk for serious COVID-19 outcomes, including an elevated chance of severe illness or death from infection, according to an analysis of more than 1,000 patients in the ASH Research Collaborative (RC)...
In the phase III AGILE trial, the combination of ivosidenib and azacitidine was found to be superior in treating newly diagnosed patients with IDH1-mutated acute myeloid leukemia (AML) compared to azacitidine alone in terms of event-free survival, the study’s primary endpoint. The combination also...
In one of the largest studies to date of the antibody response to vaccination against COVID-19 in people who had been treated for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), patients responded well to two doses of the Moderna mRNA vaccine and saw a pronounced increase in levels ...
Paolo Ghia, MD, PhD, of the Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele and IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, discusses disease-free survival results from the measurable residual disease cohort of the phase II CAPTIVATE trial. This multicenter trial focuses on first-line ibrutinib plus venetoclax in patients...
An interim analysis of the TRANSFORM trial comparing the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell immunotherapy lisocabtagene maraleucel to standard of care found that the CAR T-cell therapy significantly improved event-free survival for patients with large B-cell lymphoma that persisted or returned...
The bispecific antibody mosunetuzumab achieved deep and durable remissions as monotherapy in patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma who had received two or more prior lines of therapy, according to pivotal results of a phase I/II trial presented at the 2021 American Society of...
A study of U.S. adolescent and young adult patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) found that Hispanic patients were significantly underrepresented in a large clinical trial compared with the general patient population. The study, presented by Muffly et al at the 2021 American Society of...
A study of nearly 25,000 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) aged up to 30 years old revealed significant gaps in survival rates between White, Hispanic, and Black patients, as well as worse outcomes among those of lower socioeconomic status. Biologic or genetic factors accounted for...
“A lot of times, younger bright physicians are afraid to say what they really think, out of fear of challenging the dogma. One of the things I do when mentoring is to ask why we are doing a particular therapy or intervention. I tell my mentees not to let the data interfere with your knowledge,”...