HEMATOLOGY

Ayalew Tefferi, MD, hematologist, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, discusses the outlook for JAK inhibitors for patients with myelofibrosis.

A combination of rituximab (Rituxan) and the PI3K-delta inhibitor idelalisib was associated with a >70% improvement in overall survival (OS) in patients with high-risk relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

At the 55th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), several trials of ibrutinib both alone and in combination with currently used therapies for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) were presented.

Results of a phase II trial showed that when treated with a reduced dose of the oral FLT3 receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor quizartinib, nearly half of patients with relapsed/refractory acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) had complete remissions.

Brentuximab vedotin, an anti-CD30 monoclonal antibody, has demonstrated antitumor activity in the setting of relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and has generated responses across a broad range of CD30 expression, including low or undetectable CD30 expression. Data from an ongoing phase II study were presented by Nancy Bartlett, MD, at the 55th annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH).

Jennifer E. Amengual, MD, discusses the study she presented at the 2013 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting. The trial analyzed dual targeting with the HDAC inhibitor ACY-1215 and bortezomib in preclinical models of lymphoma.

In patients with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who are considered inappropriate for fludarabine, the addition of ofatumumab to chlorambucil improves clinical outcomes and is tolerable irrespective of patient age or fitness.

According to preliminary results of a phase I clinical trial, nearly half of patients with relapsed or refractory CLL attained objective responses when treated with IPI-145, an oral inhibitor of PI3K-delta and -gamma.

An orally bioavailable selective inhibitor of the Bcl-2 protein induced remissions in patients with relapsed/refractory CLL and SLL.

A randomized trial showed that patients with CLL and major comorbidities had significantly better outcomes when treated with obinutuzumab, an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, instead of rituximab.

Jennifer Brown, MD, PhD, discusses final stage 2 results of the CLL11 trial at the 2013 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Meeting.

Results of a small clinical study showed that in patients with posttransplant relapsed B-cell malignancies, treatment with engineered donor T cells led to substantial tumor regression.

Mark J. Levis, MD, PhD, discusses the difficulty of treating a patient with a FLT3-ITD mutation in acute myeloid leukemia.

Marcel R.M. van den Brink, MD, PhD, Head, Division of Hematologic Oncology, Alan N. Houghton Chair, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, highlights two studies that will be presented at the 2013 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Meeting.

Jae Park, MD, attending physician, Leukemia Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, comments on the treatment of patients with hairy cell leukemia.

Julie R. Brahmer, MD, from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the outlook for immunotherapies in cancer care.

The FDA has granted an accelerated approval to ibrutinib as a treatment for patients with mantle cell lymphoma who have received at least one prior therapy, based on a single-arm clinical trial demonstrating a durable improvement in ORR.

Renier J. Brentjens, MD, PhD, discusses the potential of using CAR-modified T cells to treat hematologic cancers.

Mark J. Levis, MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins University, discusses the background and future of quizartinib for FLT3-ITD acute myeloid leukemia at the 2013 Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium, which took place from November 6-8.

The efficacy and safety of adding the experimental agent brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) to standard chemotherapy to treat patients with newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is being evaluated in a randomized, open-label phase II trial.

Obinutuzumab (Gazyva) plus chlorambucil has been approved by the FDA as a first-line treatment for patients with CLL, based on clinical trial data demonstrating that the combination more than doubled median PFS over the chemotherapy agent alone.

A phase III EPIC trial exploring ponatinib (Iclusig) in untreated patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) has been discontinued. The decision comes following a high occurrence of arterial thrombotic events, according to a statement released by Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the company developing the drug.

In an updated analysis of the phase III MM-003 trial, Celgene International Sarl, the makers of pomalidomide, reported on a new progression-free survival (PFS) analysis and final overall survival (OS) in September 2013.

Ari M. Melnick, MD, from Weill Cornell Medical College, comments on emerging therapies for the treatment of mantle cell lymphoma.

A Q&A with Jennifer Brown MD, PhD, director of the Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and assistant professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA.

Mark Weiss, MD, from the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson, gives an overview of agents in development for chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Several oral drugs are in development for both non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). “There is different activity in different lymphoma types with different oral drugs and antibodies in development,” said Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD.

Manish Sharma, MD, from the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson, comments on the use of pomalidomide in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

A Q&A with Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD, medical oncologist specializing in lymphoma at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York City.

The monoclonal antibody ofatumumab (Arzerra) has received Breakthrough Therapy designation from the FDA that could allow for earlier use in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), according to a joint announcement released by GlaxoSmithKline and Genmab, who are developing and distributing the drug.