HEMATOLOGY

Treating AML With Myelodysplasia-Related Changes

Treatment Options and Care for Patients Who Develop Therapy-Related AML

Martin Hutchings, MD, PhD, senior consultant in the Department of Hematology at the Copenhagen University Hospital, discusses common implications in treating patients with advanced stage Hodgkin lymphoma. Trials rarely perform subgroup analyses, and when they do, it is common for researchers to come across particular biases in the selected subgroups. 

Dasatinib has been granted approval by the European Commission as a treatment for children and adolescent patients aged 1 to 18 years with Philadelphia chromosome–positive chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase, according to Bristol-Myers Squibb, the manufacturer of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor.

Catherine Bollard, MBChB, MD, FRACP, FRCPA, will be bringing the latest cell therapies from the laboratory into clinical application in her new role as associate center director for translational research and innovation at The George Washington University Cancer Center. Bollard is currently a professor of pediatrics and microbiology, immunology, and tropical medicine at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

CPX-351, a fixed-combination of daunorubicin and cytarabine, has been recommended for approval by the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use for the treatment of adult patients with newly diagnosed therapy-related acute myeloid leukemia or AML with myelodysplasia-related changes.

The FDA approved several indications in the month of June, including venetoclax (Venclexta) in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and small lymphocytic leukemia (SLL), the combination of binimetinib (Mektovi) plus encorafenib (Braftovi) in melanoma, and bevacizumab (Avastin) in ovarian cancer. The FDA also accelerated approvals for pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in cervical cancer and in primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma, while also granting a priority review to glasdegib for acute myeloid leukemia.

Based on data from the phase II BRIGHT 1003 study, the FDA has granted a priority review to a new drug application for glasdegib for use in combination with chemotherapy for the frontline treatment of patients with acute myeloid leukemia, according to Pfizer, the developer of the investigational oral smoothened inhibitor.

William B. Donnellan, MD, was recently promoted to director of Leukemia/Myelodysplastic Syndrome Research at the Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Nashville, Tennessee. Donnellan has served as an investigator of hematologic malignancies since 2014 at the Sarah Cannon Research Institute.

An overall response rate of 60% was induced with venetoclax (Venclexta) monotherapy in patients with poor-risk relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma who were previously treated with a BTK inhibitor, according to results presented at the 2018 European Hematology Association Congress. Of the responding patients, 20% had a complete response.

A supplemental new drug application for ibrutinib in combination with rituximab has been granted a priority review by the FDA. According to Pharmacyclics and Janssen Biotech, the codevelopers of ibrutinib, this combination could be a treatment option across all lines of therapy for patients with Waldenström macroglobulinemia.

According to long-term follow-up data from the phase III CLL11 study, treatment with obinutuzumab combined with chlorambucil reduced the risk of death by 24% versus rituximab plus chlorambucil in treatment-naïve patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia with comorbidities. These findings were presented at the 2018 European Hematology Association Congress.

In patients with untreated advanced-stage classical Hodgkin lymphoma, PET can be safely used to guide treatment after 2 cycles of upfront de-escalated BEACOPP, according to the final analysis of the phase III LYSA study presented at the 2018 European Hematology Association Congress.