HEMATOLOGY

The combination of the anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody obinutuzumab and bendamustine induced high rates of complete response and minimal residual disease negativity with no unexpected safety signals as a first-line therapy for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Ruben A. Mesa, MD, has been named director of the UT Health Cancer Center.

A supplemental biologics license application for the use of denosumab for the prevention of skeletal-related events in patients with multiple myeloma has been accepted by the FDA.

Daratumumab has been approved by the FDA for use in combination with pomalidomide and dexamethasone for patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least 2 prior therapies, including a proteasome inhibitor and lenalidomide.

Javier Pinilla-Ibarz, MD, PhD, associate member, Malignant Hematology and Immunology Program at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses ongoing research with ibrutinib (Imbruvica) in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. 

Andrzej Jakubowiak, MD, PhD, professor of Medicine, University of Chicago Medicine, discusses safety results from an open label, phase 1b trial  exploring daratumumab (Darzalex) combined with carfilzomib (Kyprolis), lenalidomide (Revlimid), and dexamethasone in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.

Merck has announced that enrollment for the phase III KEYNOTE-183 and KEYNOTE-185 multiple myeloma trials has been postponed due to deaths in patients treated with pembrolizumab.

Complete marrow clearance of leukemic cells was achieved in 8 of 9 evaluable patients with heavily pretreated or genetically high-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia who received concurrent treatment with CTL-119 cell therapy and ibrutinib, results of a pilot study showed.

In patients with newly diagnosed chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in chronic phase, a 400-mg dose of bosutinib (Bosulif) was associated with higher rates of major molecular response (MMR) and complete cytogenetic response (CCyR) than imatinib (Gleevec).

Jan A. Burger, MD, PhD and Javier Pinilla-Ibarz, MD, PhD shed light on the field of CLL and the transformative role of ibrutinib.

An overview of emerging targeted therapies and immunotherapies in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Sagar Lonial, MD, professor and chair, Department of Hematology & Medical Oncology, Emory University School of Medicine, chief medical officer, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, discusses recent advancements in the treatment paradigm for multiple myeloma.

An overview of the factors affecting prognosis and treatment in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Current treatment strategies for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

<p>CLL is a malignancy characterized by the clonal proliferation and accumulation of small, mature-appearing CD5-positive B lymphocytes in the blood, bone marrow, and secondary lymphoid tissues.</p>

Ublituximab (TG-1101) in combination with ibrutinib (Imbruvica) met its primary endpoint of showing an improvement in objective response rate (ORR) compared with ibruitinib monotherapy in patients with previously treated high-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). In a presentation of findings from the phase III GENUINE trial during the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting, data were reviewed demonstrating that the combination had an ORR of 78% in this patient population.&nbsp;

Lenalidomide consolidation therapy following induction with fludarabine and rituximab (Rituxan) was found to increase long-term survival over survival rates&nbsp;seen with FR or FR plus cyclophosphamide in an overall survival plateau that intrigued researchers when examined in&nbsp;patients with symptomatic, treatment-naive chronic lymphocytic leukemia without an 11q deletion.

The FDA has scheduled a public hearing of its&nbsp;Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) to address a biologics license application (BLA) for tisagenlecleucel-T (CTL019) for patients aged 3 to 25 years with relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The hearing is planned for July 12, 2017.

Eytan M. Stein, MD, internist, hematologic oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the results of a phase I dose escalation and expansion study of enasidenib in mutant <em>IDH-2</em> relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) during the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Jorge Cortes, MD, deputy chair of the Department of Leukemia, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses initial results from the BFORE trial, which is exploring bosutinib (Bosulif) versus imatinib (Gleevec) for newly diagnosed chronic myeloid leukemia.

A new drug application from Jazz Pharmaceuticals has been accepted by the FDA for a novel CPX-351 injection (Vyxeos) for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia.

Axicabtagene ciloleucel (KTE-C19; axi-cel) has been granted a priority review by the FDA for transplant-ineligible patients with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Rekha Rao, PhD, assistant professor, University of Kansas Medical Center, discusses a study of the synergistic activity of p97 inhibitors with histone deacetylase 6 inhibitors in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

Martin Dreyling, MD, professor of medicine, University of Munich Hospital in Grosshadern, discusses primary results of the pivotal CHRONOS-1 study, which looked at copanlisib in patients with relapsed or refractory indolent B-cell lymphoma.

The NCCN published its first set of guidelines for myeloproliferative neoplasms in October 2016 and is already looking to update and expand these guidelines to match the need for direction in diagnosing and treating patients with MPNs.