HEMATOLOGY

Cristina Gasparetto, MD, associate professor, head of the myeloma program, Duke University Medical Center, discusses a phase 1b study to assess the combination of selinexor and daratumumab in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma previously exposed to proteasome inhibitors and immunomodulatory drugs during the 2017 ASH Annual Meeting.

Ian Flinn, MD, Director of the Blood Cancer Research Program, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discusses the safety, efficacy, and MRD negativity of a combination of venetoclax (Venclexta) and obinutuzumab (Gazyva) in patients with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) during the 2017 ASH Annual Meeting.<br /> &nbsp;

Treatment with the novel PD-1 inhibitor cemiplimab induced responses in half of the patients with&nbsp;Hodgkin lymphoma in a phase I study of patients with B-lymphoid malignancies; among patients with&nbsp;B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma treated with the monotherapy, the overall response rate was 11.1%, according to a poster presentation at the 2017 ASH Annual Meeting.&nbsp;

Treatment with&nbsp;tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah) continues to excite the possibilities seen with chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy with impressive responses seen with the therapy in patients with&nbsp;relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. In the phase II JULIET trial, an overall response rate of 53.1%&nbsp;was observed, according to findings presented at the ASH Annual Meeting.&nbsp;

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) has received a priority review from the FDA for a supplemental biologics license application (sBLA) for the treatment of&nbsp;adult and pediatric patients with relapsed/refractory primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma (PMBCL), according to a press release from Merck,&nbsp;the manufacturer of pembrolizumab. The findings were first presented at the 14th International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma and updated data were recently presented at the 2017 ASH Annual Meeting.

Ruben A. Mesa, MD, Director of the UT Health San Antonio Cancer Center, discusses &nbsp;4-year follow-up results from the phase III RESPONSE trial, which investigated ruxolitinib (Jafaki) with best available therapy for the treatment of polycythemia vera (PV) during the 2017 ASH Annual Meeting.

Adding rituximab (Rituxan) to ibrutinib (Imbruvica) in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) did not improve progression-free survival (PFS) or overall survival (OS) versus ibrutinib alone, despite there being a faster time to complete remission.

Jesus Berdeja, MD, Director of Multiple Myeloma Research, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discusses results of a study that explored bb2121, an anti-BCMA CAR T cell therapy, in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma during the 2017 ASH Annual Meeting.

In patients with&nbsp;relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), ibrutinib (Imbruvica) in combination with venetoclax (Venclexta) induced an objective response rate (ORR) of 100%, according to findings from the TAP CLARITY clinical trial.&nbsp;

The addition of brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) to doxorubicin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (A+AVD) reduced the risk of progression and death by 23% in patients with advanced-stage Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) compared with standard&nbsp;ABVD (doxorubicin [Adriamycin], bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine) chemotherapy, according to results of the phase III ECHELON-1 clinical trial.&nbsp;

Mogamulizumab improved progression-free survival in previously treated patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma by 4.6 months compared with vorinostat (Zolinza),&nbsp;according to findings from the phase III MAVORIC study.

Kerry Rogers, MD, Assistant Professor, Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses a phase II trial of early intervention with ibrutinib (Imbruvica) in patients with asymptomatic, high-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) during the 2017 ASH Annual Meeting.<br /> &nbsp;

Matthew S. Davids, MD, Associate Director, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Center for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, discusses a study that explored optimizing checkpoint blockade as a treatment for relapsed hematologic malignancies after allogenic hematopoietic cell transplantation during the 2017 ASH Annual Meeting.<br /> <br /> &nbsp;

Jacqueline C. Barrientos, MD, associate professor, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Northwell Health, discusses venetoclax (Venclexta) for the treatment of elderly patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).&nbsp;

Ajai Chari, MD, associate professor, Mount Sinai Hospital, discusses some of the recent clinical trial evidence for early relapsed multiple myeloma and how it can be put into practice.

The partial clinical holds placed on the&nbsp;phase I CheckMate-039 and phase II CA204142 trials in October were lifted today by the FDA. Both trials were exploring&nbsp;nivolumab-based regimens in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

Dan T. Vogl, MD,&nbsp;discusses some of the novel agents being investigated alone and in combination in multiple myeloma. He also highlighted the potential with CAR T-cell therapy in the multiple myeloma paradigm.

Michael A. Caligiuri, MD, has been appointed president and physician-in-chief of the City of Hope National Medical Center, a position which will go into effect in February 2018.

Kanti R. Rai, MD, professor, The Karches Center for Oncology Research, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, director, Center for Oncology and Cell Biology, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, professor, Medicine and Molecular Medicine, Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine, discusses optimal treatment sequencing for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

John Mascarenhas, MD, associate professor, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, discusses the role of <em>JAK2</em> inhibition in patients with polycythemia vera (PV).

Daratumumab (Darzalex) has been submitted for FDA approval for&nbsp;use in combination with bortezomib (Velcade), melphalan and prednisone (VMP) for the treatment of patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma who are ineligible for autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT).

A round-up of all the FDA activity that occurred in the month of November, including several approvals for hematologic malignancies.

The Leukemia &amp; Lymphoma Society (LLS) has awarded Barbara Savoldo, MD, PhD, with a $600,000, 3-year grant in support of her promising research into a CAR T-cell treatment with a &ldquo;safety switch&rdquo; that could alleviate potential side effects for patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia being treated with the immunotherapy.

A biologics license application for mogamulizumab has been granted a priority review by the FDA for the&nbsp;treatment of patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma who have received at least 1 prior systemic therapy,&nbsp;Kyowa Hakko Kirin, the manufacturer of the anti-CCR4 monoclonal antibody, has announced.

The American Society of Hematology has announced that James R. Downing, MD, of St. Jude Children&rsquo;s Research Hospital will be awarded the 2017 E. Donnall Thomas Lecture and Prize for his discoveries related to the hematopathology and molecular biology of childhood leukemia.