scout

ASH Annual Meeting

Complete remissions were achieved in greater than 20% of patients with highly refractory non-Hodgkin lymphomas who had been previously been treated with chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy with Mosunetuzumab, a novel bispecific antibody, according to study results presented at the 2019 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting.

Patients with treatment-naïve chronic lymphocytic leukemia experienced a statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival with acalabrutinib as a single agent or in combination with obinutuzumab when compared with obinutuzumab plus chlorambucil, according to results from the phase III ELEVATE-TN trial presented at the 2019 ASH Annual Meeting.

Patients with a difficult-to-treat form of multiple myeloma who were treated with a novel, bispecific anti-BCMA/anti-CD38 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy experienced promising responses and a manageable safety profile, according to results of a study that were presented at the 61st Annual American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition.<br /> &nbsp;

A multi-antigen off-the-shelf chimeric antigen receptor natural killer cell therapy has been included in the ASH annual meeting spotlight due to exciting preclinical evidence. An investigational new drug application was approved&nbsp;in September 2019 for the therapy, labeled as FT596, developed by Fate Therapeutics, and human trials are scheduled to start in the first quater of 2020.

Durable responses were achieved with acalabrutinib therapy for patients with relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma, with 40% still on treatment for more than 2 years, according to long-term follow-up findings presented at the 2018 ASH Annual Meeting.

According to a presentation of findings from the&nbsp;phase II CLARITY study at the 2018 ASH Annual Meeting, ibrutinib in combination with&nbsp;venetoclax demonstrated tolerability among patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The combination also induced minimal residual disease negativity in the marrow in&nbsp;39% of these patients after 12 months.

According to findings from the phase III TOURMALINE-MM3, a 39% improvement in progression-free survival was demonstrated with 2-year maintenance therapy with ixazomib compared with placebo for patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma who had previously achieved a partial response with&nbsp;an induction therapy of a proteasome inhibitor and/or an immunomodulatory agent&nbsp;following autologous stem cell transplant.

Peter M. Voorhees, MD, investigator, department of hematologic oncology &amp; blood disorders, Levine Cancer Institute/Atrium Health, discusses efficacy and updated safety findings of a safety run-in cohort from the phase II Griffin trial, a randomized study of daratumumab, bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (Dara-Vrd) versus Vrd in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma eligible for high-dose therapy and autologous stem cell transplantation, during the 2018 ASH Annual Meeting.

Pembrolizumab in combination with&nbsp;umbralisib and ublituximab induced responses in 90% of patients&nbsp;with&nbsp;relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia, according to data from a phase I/II study presented at the&nbsp;2018 ASH Annual Meeting. Additionally, a&nbsp;50% response rate was also demonstrated in patients with&nbsp;Richter&rsquo;s transformation.

According to a retrospective phase I/II study, over 80% of patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia responded to concurrent treatment with ibrutinib and the CD19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor CAR T-cell therapy, JCAR014.<sup>1</sup> Findings from this study were presented at&nbsp;the 60th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting.