Ajay K. Nooka, MBBS, of Winship Cancer Center of Emory University, discusses phase II findings showing that, in patients with high-risk myeloma, maintenance therapy with carfilzomib, pomalidomide, and dexamethasone deepened responses. Measurable residual disease negativity was attained in 80% of patients.
Nirav N. Shah, MD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin, discusses phase II results showing that split-dose R-CHOP offers older patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) an equivalent dose intensity as R-CHOP-21 through a fractionated dosing schedule, improving tolerability. At the end of treatment for these older patients, a complete response rate of 71% was comparable to outcomes with R-CHOP in younger patients with the disease (Abstract 7554).
Ajay K. Nooka, MBBS, of Winship Cancer Center of Emory University, discusses findings from a pooled analysis of MagnetisMM studies. The data showed that, in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who have not yet been treated with B-cell maturation antigen–directed therapies, elranatamab was efficacious and well tolerated.
Amer Methqal Zeidan, MBBS, MHS, of Yale University and Yale Cancer Center, discusses phase III findings on the first-in-class telomerase inhibitor imetelstat, which was given to patients with heavily transfusion-dependent non-del(5q) lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes that are resistant to erythropoiesis-stimulating agents. Imetelstat resulted in a significant and sustained red blood cell (RBC) transfusion independence in 40% of these heavily transfused patients. The response was also durable and accompanied by an impressive median hemoglobin rise of 3.6 g/dL, and seen in patients with and without ring sideroblasts. Importantly, reduced variant allele frequency was observed in the most commonly mutated myeloid genes which correlated with duration of transfusion independence and hemoglobin rise, therefore suggesting a disease-modifying potential of this agent (Abstract 7004).
Jonathan W. Riess, MD, of the University of California, Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, explores the findings of three important clinical trials in lung cancer treatment: whether to incorporate immune checkpoint inhibitors into the treatment of EGFR-mutated lung cancer, the importance of central nervous system activity in EGFR-mutant lung cancer, and new therapies for disease with EGFR exon 20 insertion.
Funda Meric-Bernstam, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses interim results from the DESTINY-PanTumor02 trial, the first tumor-agnostic global study of fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) in a broad range of HER2-expressing solid tumors. This agent showed an encouraging overall response rate, particularly in patients with IHC 3+ expression; durable clinical benefit; and a manageable safety profile in these heavily pretreated patients. T-DXd may be a potential new treatment option for this population (Abstract LBA3000).
