HEMATOLOGY

Three clinical trials presented at the 2019 ESMO Congress show that the tropomyosin receptor kinase inhibitor larotrectinib continues to show anti-tumor activity, including long-lasting objective responses and low toxicity, according to results from an integrated analysis.

Umbralisib and ublituximab in combination with pembrolizumab was well tolerated among patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia and Richter’s transformation, according to a phase I/II trial presented at the 18th International Workshop on CLL. Responses were durable in high-risk patients who are BTK-refractory, including 2 complete responses in patients with RT.

In an interview with&nbsp;<em>Targeted Oncology</em>, Marcelo C. Pasquini, MD, discussed the importance of obtaining real-world data and establishing registries for collecting patient outcomes, and how real-world data compare with data from pivotal trials. He also explained the challenges with accessibility to CAR T-cell therapies.

The PI3K-delta inhibitor umbralisib demonstrated a favorable toxicity profile as treatment for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia who have become intolerant to a prior kinase inhibitor, of either BTK or PI3K inhibition, according to results from a phase II study presented at the 18th International Workshop on CLL.

Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor acalabrutinib demonstrated a high rate of response, prolonged survival, and high tolerability in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia who demonstrated intolerance to ibrutinib. Findings were presented at the 15th International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma.

Now in it 24th year, the annual International Congress on Hematologic Malignancies: Focus on Leukemias, Lymphomas, and Myeloma, hosted by Physicians&rsquo; Education Resource, LLC, continues to bring significant advances in hematology to the forefront.

The FDA has granted a fast track designation to abexinostat for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma in the fourth-line setting.<br /> &nbsp;

Q&amp;A With Moshe Yair Levy, MD: Weighing Risks and Benefits With the Use of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors for the Treatment of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

&quot;Early-relapsing lymphoma is a problem, there is no debate about that. The hard part is in trying to manage these patients effectively,&rdquo; Jonathon B. Cohen, MD, MS, told an audience at the 2019 Debates and Didactics in Hematology and Oncology conference held in Sea Island, Georgia.<br /> &nbsp;

Chronic myeloid leukemia is a rare type of cancer, and&nbsp;tyrosine kinase inhibitors have become the standard guideline-recommended treatment for patients with <em>BCR-ABL1</em>&ndash;positive or Ph-positive CML.

In an interview with <em>Targeted Oncology</em>, Neil P. Shah, MD, PhD, discussed the latest advancements in the treatment landscape of chronic myeloid leukemia, including the introduction of tyrosine kinase inhibitors. He also addressed some of the challenges both oncologists and patients face in this space.<br /> &nbsp;

Gail Roboz, MD, discusses the use of FLT3 inhibitors as treatment of patients with acute myeloid leukemia, which can be a heterogenous and difficult-to-treat disease. There is a lot of optimism for new drugs and targets in AML, but the disease itself remains tough to treat, according to Roboz.

Rate of response and progression-free survival were superior with venetoclax versus chlorambucil in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia who also received obinutuzumab, and this trend was observed across all genetic subgroups.<br /> &nbsp;

Tanya Siddiqi, MD, discusses how she sees acalabrutinib fitting into the treatment landscape for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia following the results from the phase III ASCEND trial.

The presence of novel combinations and oral targeted therapies are rising in the frontline treatment setting for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, regardless of age. According to Nitin Jain, MD, ongoing phase III trials will bring additional modifications to the treatment landscape.

In an interview with&nbsp;<em>Targeted Oncology </em>during the 2019 SOHO Annual Meeting, John F. DiPersio, MD, PhD, discussed the challenges in research surrounding immunotherapies for AML, including DARTs, BiTEs, ADCs, and CARs.

In a retrospective study of patients with replaced or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma, checkpoint inhibition prior to haploidentical stem cell transplantation improved progression-free survival and risk for relapse, based on results presented at the 2019 SOHO Annual Meeting.

In the phase III QUAZAR AML-001 trial, an investigational oral azacitidine therapy, CC-486, induced a statistically significant improvement in overall survival compared with placebo when used as a maintenance therapy in the treatment of patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia who achieved a complete response or CR with incomplete blood count recovery following treatment with induction chemotherapy.

Graft versus Host Disease

David S. Snyder, MD, discusses using ruxolitinib to prevent patients receiving stem cell transplantation from developing graft versus host disease.