Guillermo Garcia-Manero, MD, on MDS: Research Highlights From ASH 2025
ASH 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 with treatment-naive intermediate- and higher-risk MDS (Abstract 235); safety and efficacy results from a phase Ib trial of a dual IRAK1/4 inhibitor in patients with relapsed/refractory lower-risk MDS (Abstract 489); and results from the phase II ASTX030-01 trial, showing pharmacokinetic, efficacy, and safety data of oral ASTX030 in patients with MDS (Abstract 491).
The ASCO Post Staff
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 and progression-free survival; progression to acute myeloid leukemia; safety; and long-term outcomes by subgroups of interest in IMerge, as well as ad hoc outcomes, including overall survival by response (Abstract 2074).
The ASCO Post Staff
Jack Khouri, MD, of Cleveland Clinic, describes the findings of a phase II trial which investigated the safety and efficacy of burixafor (GPC-100), a potent and selective small -molecule antagonist of CXCR4, and propranolol with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) for the mobilization of hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC) in patients with multiple myeloma. Researchers aimed to boost the bone marrow HPC niche and optimize mobilization in patients with multiple myeloma eligible for autologous hematopoietic cell transplant (Abstract 1050).
The ASCO Post Staff
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 discontinued elranatamab and maintained their responses for 6 months or longer (Abstract 2269).
The ASCO Post Staff
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 patients with higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), including those with TP53-mutated disease. (Abstract 236).
The ASCO Post Staff
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 4340).
