HEMATOLOGY

A randomized trial showed that patients with CLL and major comorbidities had significantly better outcomes when treated with obinutuzumab, an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, instead of rituximab.

Jennifer Brown, MD, PhD, discusses final stage 2 results of the CLL11 trial at the 2013 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Meeting.

Results of a small clinical study showed that in patients with posttransplant relapsed B-cell malignancies, treatment with engineered donor T cells led to substantial tumor regression.

Mark J. Levis, MD, PhD, discusses the difficulty of treating a patient with a FLT3-ITD mutation in acute myeloid leukemia.

Marcel R.M. van den Brink, MD, PhD, Head, Division of Hematologic Oncology, Alan N. Houghton Chair, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, highlights two studies that will be presented at the 2013 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Meeting.

Jae Park, MD, attending physician, Leukemia Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, comments on the treatment of patients with hairy cell leukemia.

Julie R. Brahmer, MD, from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the outlook for immunotherapies in cancer care.

The FDA has granted an accelerated approval to ibrutinib as a treatment for patients with mantle cell lymphoma who have received at least one prior therapy, based on a single-arm clinical trial demonstrating a durable improvement in ORR.

Renier J. Brentjens, MD, PhD, discusses the potential of using CAR-modified T cells to treat hematologic cancers.

Mark J. Levis, MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins University, discusses the background and future of quizartinib for FLT3-ITD acute myeloid leukemia at the 2013 Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium, which took place from November 6-8.

The efficacy and safety of adding the experimental agent brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) to standard chemotherapy to treat patients with newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is being evaluated in a randomized, open-label phase II trial.

Obinutuzumab (Gazyva) plus chlorambucil has been approved by the FDA as a first-line treatment for patients with CLL, based on clinical trial data demonstrating that the combination more than doubled median PFS over the chemotherapy agent alone.

A phase III EPIC trial exploring ponatinib (Iclusig) in untreated patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) has been discontinued. The decision comes following a high occurrence of arterial thrombotic events, according to a statement released by Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the company developing the drug.

In an updated analysis of the phase III MM-003 trial, Celgene International Sarl, the makers of pomalidomide, reported on a new progression-free survival (PFS) analysis and final overall survival (OS) in September 2013.

Ari M. Melnick, MD, from Weill Cornell Medical College, comments on emerging therapies for the treatment of mantle cell lymphoma.

A Q&A with Jennifer Brown MD, PhD, director of the Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and assistant professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA.

Mark Weiss, MD, from the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson, gives an overview of agents in development for chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Several oral drugs are in development for both non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). “There is different activity in different lymphoma types with different oral drugs and antibodies in development,” said Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD.

Manish Sharma, MD, from the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson, comments on the use of pomalidomide in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

A Q&A with Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD, medical oncologist specializing in lymphoma at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York City.

The monoclonal antibody ofatumumab (Arzerra) has received Breakthrough Therapy designation from the FDA that could allow for earlier use in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), according to a joint announcement released by GlaxoSmithKline and Genmab, who are developing and distributing the drug.

Following a positive interim analysis, a phase III study of the PI3K-delta inhibitor idelalisib in combination with rituximab (Rituxan) has been stopped.

The FDA has placed a partial hold on the clinical development of the BCR-ABL inhibitor ponatinib (Iclusig), following the high occurrence of arterial thrombosis in patients treated with the drug.

Volasertib (BI 6727) is a potent and selective inhibitor of PLK1 in vitro that is currently being evaluated for its therapeutic potential to target the cell cycle.

Jennifer Woyach, MD, discusses peripheral lymphocytosis in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) following treatment with ibrutinib.