LEUKEMIAS

In the past 5 years, 3 new treatment options have emerged to treat patients with relapsed or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia, providing hope for patients with this disease, but also raising clinical questions of how to choose among these agents and what is the best option for the patient at which time.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology Guillermo Garcia-Manero, MD, discussed the key findings from the QUAZAR AML-001 study and the importance of the FDA approval of CC-486 in post-remission acute myeloid leukemia.

The FDA granted approval to the oral hypomethylating agent, CC-486 (azacitidine tablets, Onureg), as a maintenance treatment for adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia who achieved a first complete remission or with incomplete blood count recovery after intensive induction chemotherapy and who are unable to complete intensive curative therapy.

The primary end point of statistically superiority in major molecular response rate at 24 weeks was met with asciminib versus bosutinib as treatment of patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase in the phase 3 ASCEMBL study.

Thomas Cluzeau, MD, PhD, discusses the rationale for evaluating azacitidine in combination with APR-246 in patients with TP53-mutant myelodysplastic syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia.

Eunice Wang, MD, discusses the excitement she has experienced in the treatment landscape of acute myeloid leukemia over the last several years due to the number of new treatment options approved by the FDA.

“In this single-arm, phase 2 study, the combination of ofatumumab with the hyper-CVAD regimen resulted in a high proportion of adult patients with Ph-negative CD20- positive B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia having durable remission and long-term survival…"

A new randomized placebo-controlled study finds patients with acute myeloid leukemia who cannot undergo intensive chemotherapy have improved outcomes when given venetoclax in addition to low-dose cytarabine.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Anthony Mato, MD, discussed the findings of venetoclax interruptions or discontinuations observed in patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia who received the combination of venetoclax plus rituximab in the phase 3 MURANO study.

All patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia should be evaluated for both complex karyotypes and del17p prior to initiating treatment, and all patients with complex karyotypes should be considered candidates for alternative combination therapy.

During the Virtual 25th Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA), a group of physicians described their experiences and recommendations for managing patients with myeloid malignancies during the COVID-19 pandemic and after.

“[This] report on the diagnosis of blood cancers in the US/Mexico border inure the different frequency of leukemia subtypes and their outcomes, highlighting important health disparities due to different access to diagnosis and care due to a series of factors."

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Jeff P. Sharman, MD, discussed the findings for the combination of ublituximab plus ibrutinib as treatment of patients with high-risk relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

"The ability for NGS to assess response across a continuum of relevant MRD threshold levels is an important consideration for applying MRD testing in clinical practice."

Jae Park, MD, discusses adverse events associated with chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies, such as neurotoxicity, for patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Steve A. Soper, PhD, discussed microfluidic platforms for use in isolating circulating leukemia cells and plasma cells in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia.

There is a significant unmet clinical need [for] treatment of CML globally. This Orphan Drug Designation from FDA marks a major milestone for HQP1351..."

The longest follow-up for ibrutinib monotherapy to date maintained the benefit of the Bruton&rsquo;s tyrosine kinase inhibitor for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma across settings.<br /> &nbsp;

Jennifer Woyach, MD, discusses the frontline options for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

The appropriate gap between diagnosis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and treatment is now clearer as a new prognostic tool, IPS-E, that can predict the length of &ldquo;watch and wait&rdquo; has been introduced, according to a press release from the American Society of Hematology.

Rajneesh Nath, MD, discusses the rationale for phase III SIERRA trial, which evaluated the anti-CD45 monoclonal antibody apamistamab followed by fludarabine/total body irradiation and allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation in patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia.

Although fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and rituximab may be efficient in inducing remission for the treatment of patients with Binet A high-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia, recent data published in&nbsp;Leukemia&nbsp;suggest there is no evidence that this would be better than the current standard of care, which is the &ldquo;watch and wait&rdquo; approach.

Jeff P. Sharman, MD, discusses the secondary end points from the&nbsp;<u><strong><a href="https://www.targetedonc.com/conference/ash-2019/patients-with-cll-treated-on-the-elevatetn-trial-experience-improved-pfs-with-acalabrutinib">phase III ELEVATE-TN&nbsp;trial</a></strong></u>, which evaluated the role of acalabrutinib, either as a single agent or in combination with obinutuzumab in patients with treatment-naive chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

A phase II trial of ficlatuzumab, an investigational HGF inhibitory antibody, in patients with relapsed and refractory acute myeloid leukemia joins the growing list of clinical trials halted due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

In an interview with&nbsp;Targeted Oncology,&nbsp;Patrick Brown, MD, discussed the results from the randomized phase III study evaluating blinatumomab in patients with B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia.