Nitin Jain, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses findings from two studies showing that the combination of ibrutinib and venetoclax is an effective chemotherapy-free oral regimen for patients with high-risk, previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (Abstract 34).
David P. Steensma, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses early study findings on H3B-8800, which decreased the need for red blood cell or platelet transfusion in 14% of patients. This splicing modulator, used in the trial to treat patients with hematologic malignancies, also showed safety, dose-dependent target engagement, and a predictable pharmacokinetic profile (Abstract 673).
Tait D. Shanafelt, MD, of Stanford University, discusses extended follow-up data that show ibrutinib plus rituximab improved clinical outcomes vs the standard therapy of fludarabine/cyclophosphamide/ rituximab in younger patients with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (Abstract 33).
Catherine M. Diefenbach, MD, of the Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone, discusses a primary analysis of a phase Ib/II trial showing that the novel triplet combination of polatuzumab vedotin plus obinutuzumab/lenalidomide is safe and effective, with high complete response rates seen in a heavily pretreated and refractory population (Abstract 126).
Mhairi Copland, PhD, MB BChir, of the University of Glasgow, discusses results of a study on the combination of ponatinib and fludarabine, cytarabine, idarubicin, and G-CSF for patients with blast phase chronic myeloid leukemia, a rare complication with a poor outcome (Abstract 497).
C. Ola Landgren, MD, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses phase II study findings that showed an 83% negative rate of minimal residual disease in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma treated weekly with 8 cycles of the quadruplet regimen of carfilzomib/lenalidomide/dexamethasone/daratumumab, without autologous stem cell transplant (Abstract 862).
