Final results of the German Hodgkin Study Group phase III HD18 trial, reported in The Lancet by Borchmann et al, showed no benefit of adding rituximab (Rituxan) to escalated BEACOPP (eBEACOPP; bleomycin, etoposide, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone) in...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today granted accelerated approval to acalabrutinib (Calquence) for the treatment of adults with mantle cell lymphoma who have received at least one prior therapy. “Mantle cell lymphoma is a particularly aggressive cancer,” said Richard...
On October 18, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted regular approval to axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta) for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma after two or more lines of systemic therapy, including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma...
On October 18, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta), a cell-based gene therapy, to treat adult patients with certain types of large B-cell lymphoma who have not responded to or who have relapsed after at least two other kinds of treatment....
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Dreyling et al, the phase II CHRONOS-1 trial has shown a high response rate and durable responses with the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor copanlisib (Aliqopa) in adults with relapsed or refractory indolent lymphoma who had received...
In a French phase III trial, maintenance rituximab (Rituxan) improved event-free survival vs observation after autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) in younger patints with mantle cell lymphoma. These findings were reported by Le Gouill et al in The New England Journal of Medicine. Study...
Jane N. Winter, MD, of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, discusses the use of novel targeted therapies for newly diagnosed and relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma.
Ranjana H. Advani, MD, of Stanford Cancer Institute, discusses the novel immunomodulatory agents used to manage patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma.
Sharyn L. Kurtz, PA-C, MPAS, MA, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the long-term side effects associated with curative treatments for Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma and how to develop an individualized follow-up schedule for survivors.
In a study in the Danish population reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Salz et al found that preexisting cardiovascular conditions were associated with an increased risk of heart failure in survivors of aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). The standard use of anthracycline chemotherapy ...
On October 2, Seattle Genetics, Inc, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) in combination with chemotherapy for the front-line treatment of patients with advanced classical Hodgkin lymphoma. The positive ...
THE U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION (FDA) has granted accelerated approval to copanlisib (Aliqopa) for the treatment of adults with relapsed follicular lymphoma who have received at least two prior systemic therapies. Copanlisib is a kinase inhibitor that works by blocking several enzymes that...
On September 22, Roche announced that the European Commission has approved obinutuzumab (Gazyvaro in Europe; available in the United States as Gazyva) in combination with chemotherapy, followed by obinutuzumab maintenance in patients achieving a response, as a new treatment for previously untreated ...
Investigators at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson uncovered potential new proteins that contribute to the development and progression of several types of lymphoma. Their findings were published by Adams et al in Clinical Cancer Research. The researchers focused their attention on...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms of action, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On June 22, 2017, the combination of rituximab (Rituxan)...
Christopher R. Kelsey, MD, of Duke University Medical Center, discusses reducing the radiation dose from 30 Gy to 20 Gy for patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Phase II findings show this approach may be effective in light of improved systemic treatment and better chemotherapy response assessment (Presentation 298).
On August 30, 2017, tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah) was granted regular approval for the treatment of patients up to age 25 years with B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) that is refractory or in second or later relapse.1,2 Tisagenlecleucel is the first chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)...
ON SEPTEMBER 14, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved bevacizumab-awwb (Mvasi) as a biosimilar to bevacizumab (Avastin) for the treatment of multiple types of cancer. Bevacizumab-awwb is the first biosimilar approved in the United States for the treatment of cancer....
New criteria for evaluating response in lymphoma clinical trials—RECIL 2017—have been developed by an International Working Group with the aim of harmonizing criteria with the RECIST criteria used for solid tumors.1 The new criteria were reported by Anas Younes, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering...
A phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Leonard et al showed no significant progression-free survival benefit of adding bortezomib (Velcade) to R-CHOP (rituximab [Rituxan], cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone) in previously untreated patients with...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to copanlisib (Aliqopa) for the treatment of adults with relapsed follicular lymphoma who have received at least two prior systemic therapies. “For patients with relapsed follicular lymphoma, the cancer often...
In a European analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Martínez et al found similar survival outcomes with post-transplantation cyclophosphamide-based haploidentical allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) vs conventional HLA-matched sibling donor or HLA-matched...
On March 14, 2017, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) was granted accelerated approval for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma or those who have relapsed after three or more prior lines of therapy.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data APPROVAL WAS BASED on...
On August 28, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted the supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) and granted Priority Review for obinutuzumab (Gazyva) in combination with chemotherapy followed by obinutuzumab alone for patients with previously untreated follicular lymphoma....
The phase III GOYA trial has shown no progression-free survival advantage with obinutuzumab (Gazyva) vs rituximab (Rituxan) plus CHOP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone) in previously untreated patients with advanced diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). The results were...
In a Children’s Oncology Group study, high response rates were achieved with crizotinib (Xalkori) treatment in pediatric ALK-positive anaplastic large cell lymphomas (ALCL) and inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors. These results were reported by Mossé et al in the Journal of Clinical...
On August 16, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted a supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) and granted Priority Review for brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) in patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL). The sBLA and its acceptance is based on data from the phase III...
THE 22ND CONGRESS of the European Hematology Association (EHA) was held in June in Madrid, drawing hematologists and allied professionals from every subspecialty of hematology from around the world. Among the extensive educational and scientific program, the EHA Congress provides a forum for...
MOST ONCOLOGISTS are familiar with the findings of the plenary sessions featured at the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting, with topics ranging from the duration of adjuvant oxaliplatin-based therapy in stage III colon cancer to patient-reported outcomes for symptom monitoring during routine cancer...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation for acalabrutinib for the treatment of patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) who have received at least one prior therapy. Acalabrutinib is a highly selective, potent Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK)...
AN EFFECTIVE antitumor immune response relies on cytotoxic T cells that are activated and able to target the malignant clone. As T cells become activated, they upregulate suppressive receptors including programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1). Upregulation of inhibitory signals is important to...
AS REPORTED in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Robert Chen, MD, of City of Hope National Medical Center, and colleagues, the phase II KEYNOTE-087 trial has shown that the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) is highly active in patients with relapsed/...
The final results of the European phase III International Extranodal Lymphoma Study Group (IELSG)-19 trial, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Emanuele Zucca, MD, of the IELSG Operation Office, Oncology Institute of Southern Switzerland, and colleagues showed that event-free and...
On June 29, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allowed marketing of ClearLLab Reagents (T1, T2, B1, B2, M), the first agency-authorized test for use with flow cytometry to aid in the detection of several leukemias and lymphomas, including chronic leukemia, acute leukemia, non-Hodgkin...
The phase III ALCANZA trial has shown that brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) produces a higher global response rate vs physician’s choice of therapy in previously treated CD30-positive cutaneous T-cell lymphomas. These results were reported by Prince et al in The Lancet. Study Details In this...
Extended follow-up data demonstrated responses from nivolumab (Opdivo) in adult patients with relapsed or progressed classical Hodgkin lymphoma after autologous stem-cell transplant (ASCT), irrespective of brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) therapy history. Results from the phase II CheckMate-205 study ...
Long-term follow-up data from the DYNAMO study, which met its primary endpoint of overall response rate (ORR; P = .0001) at the final analysis, was presented at the 22nd Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA) (Abstracts S777, E1130). DYNAMO is a phase II clinical study...
On June 22, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted regular approval to the combination of rituximab and hyaluronidase human (Rituxan Hycela) for adult patients with follicular lymphoma, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The approval provides a...
Three-year follow-up data from the phase III RAY study in patients with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma were presented at the 14th International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma (ICML) in Lugano, Switzerland. These results demonstrated that the subset of patients treated with ibrutinib...
Data from the TRANSCEND trial of JCAR017 in relapsed and refractory aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) was presented at the 2017 International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma (ICML) in Lugano, Switzerland. JCAR017 is Juno Therapeutics’ investigative chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) ...
An interim analysis of MAGNIFY, a phase IIIb, randomized, open-label, multicenter study of the R2 combination regimen (lenalidomide [Revlimid] plus rituximab [Rituxan]) in patients with relapsed or refractory marginal zone lymphoma, was presented at the International Conference on Malignant...
An updated interim analysis from an ongoing phase I/II clinical trial evaluating brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) and nivolumab (Opdivo) in relapsed or refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma was presented at the International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma (ICML) in Lugano, Switzerland (Abstract...
Clinical data from an ongoing phase I clinical trial evaluating ADCT-402 for the treatment of relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma was presented at the 14th International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma (ICML) in Lugano, Switzerland. ADCT-402 is a novel antibody-drug conjugate composed of a ...
Data from the chemotherapy-free triple combination of umbralisib, an oral, next generation PI3K delta inhibitor; ublituximab, a novel glycoengineered anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody; and ibrutinib (Imbruvica) in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)/small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) and...
Positive interim efficacy data from an ongoing phase II clinical trial of tazemetostat, a first-in-class, oral enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) inhibitor, as a single-agent treatment for relapsed or refractory patients with follicular lymphoma or diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) grouped by...
ASCO’s Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR) Study continues to expand and now has more than 300 participants enrolled on study drug, more than 100 sites, new partnerships, and a revised protocol to lower the age of eligibility. “We are very pleased with the...
Julie Vose, MD, MBA, of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, discusses two hematologic abstracts: results from the OPTIMAL>60 study on radiotherapy to bulky disease PET-negative after immunochemotherapy in elderly patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma; and an analysis of autologous vs matched sibling donor or matched unrelated donor allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation in follicular lymphoma patients with early chemoimmunotherapy failure. (Abstracts 7506, 7508)
George P. Canellos, MD, President of ASCO from 1993 to 1994, was born in Boston on November 1, 1934. “I came from a business family and never wanted to do business at all. As long back as I can remember, I always found medicine attractive—not only because you could help people, but you could also...
In an analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Landsburg et al found no significant benefit of consolidative autologous stem cell transplantation in patients with double-hit lymphoma after first complete remission. They also found evidence of poorer outcome with front-line R-CHOP...
New criteria for evaluating response in lymphoma clinical trials—RECIL 2017—have been developed by an International Working Group with the aim of harmonizing criteria with the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST). The new criteria were reported by Younes et al in Annals ...