HEMATOLOGY

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a relatively rare malignancy in adults, with an estimated 6250 new cases and 1450 deaths expected in the United States in 2015. Although most patients achieve complete remission with conventional combination chemotherapy regimens, at least two-thirds of high-risk patients relapse.2 While overall survival for children has significantly improved in the last 30 years, newly diagnosed adults continue to have a poor 5-year OS rate, approximating 35%, depending on age and risk factors.

Advanced soft tissue sarcoma patients will now be able to receive trabectedin (Yondelis), which has been approved by the FDA after promising results from a phase III trial.

The anti-CD22 antibody-drug conjugate inotuzumab ozogamicin has been granted breakthrough therapy designation by the FDA as a potential treatment for relapsed or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients.

John C. Byrd, MD, on Hematologic Malignancies in Chicago about novel agents in treating chronic lymphocytic leukemia, specifically about the emergence of new targeted therapies, including ibrutinib (Imbruvica) and idelalisib (Zydelig) and what clinicians should know about them.

When John P. Leonard, MD, spoke at the American Society of Hematology inaugural meeting on Hematologic Malignancies about mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), he balanced his enthusiasm about the emerging benefits that tumor profiling brings to this disease with an acknowledgement that many important questions about mantle cell lymphoma remain unanswered.

Eribulin mesylate (Halaven) has been granted an FDA priority review designation as a treatment for patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma following chemotherapy.

Relapsed and Refractory CLL with Javier Pinilla-lbarz, MD, PhD and Paul Barr, MD

Relapsed and Refractory CLL with Javier Pinilla-lbarz, MD, PhD and Paul Barr, MD