January 2019 Annual Meeting Edition
Volume 5, Issue 2
This issue features highlights from the 2018 ASH Annual Meeting, including big data initiatives to improve prognosis in myelodysplastic syndromes, and more.
Table of Contents
January 2019 Issue
Remembering Peter R. Galbraith and Sir David Weatherall, FDA names Amy Abernethy new Deputy...
Remembering Peter R. Galbraith (1931 – 2018)
Peter R. Galbraith, MD, FRCPC, an emeritus professor at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, passed away on October...
January 2019 Issue
Is a Longer Schedule of Decitabine More Effective Than a 5-Day Schedule in Older...
For older patients with treatment-naïve acute myeloid leukemia (AML), research has suggested that a 10-day treatment schedule of the hypomethylating agent decitabine is associated...
Enasidenib Induces Molecular Remissions in IDH2-Mutated, Relapsed/Refractory AML
A first-in-human trial of patients with relapsed and/or refractory, IDH2-mutated acute myeloid leukemia (AML) found that the IDH2 inhibitor enasidenib was an effective salvage...
Ravulizumab: A New Complement Inhibitor for Patients With Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria
Ravulizumab was noninferior to eculizumab in patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) who had never received treatment with complement inhibitors, according to findings from...
FDA Approves Gilteritinib for FLT3-Mutated AML
The oral FLT3/AXL inhibitor gilteritinib was approved by the FDA for the treatment of adult patients with FLT3-mutated, relapsed or refractory AML. The FDA...
First Biosimilar for Rituximab Gains Approval
The FDA approved rituximab-abbs, the first biosimilar of rituximab, for the treatment of adult patients with CD20-positive, B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). This marks the...
FDA Approves Emapalumab for Previously Treated HLH
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved emapalumab, an anti-interferon gamma monoclonal antibody, for the treatment of adults and children with primary hemophagocytic...
FDA Approves Frontline Venetoclax for AML
The BCL2 inhibitor venetoclax, in combination with azacitidine or decitabine or low-dose cytarabine, was approved by the FDA for the treatment of patients with...
Glasdegib Receives Approval for Older Patients With AML
The FDA approved glasdegib, in combination with low-dose cytarabine, for patients with newly diagnosed AML who are aged 75 years or older or who...
Ibrutinib Plus Obinutuzumab Superior to Standard Chemoimmunotherapy in Treatment-Naïve Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
Treatment with the regimen of ibrutinib plus obinutuzumab improved outcomes for patients with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL),...
Can a Selinexor Combination STOMP Out Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma?
The combination of selinexor plus low-dose bortezomib and dexamethasone produced high response rates in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (MM), with a...
January 2019 Issue
ECHELON-2: Brentuximab Vedotin Combination Outperforms CHOP for Peripheral T-Cell Lymphomas
Results from the phase III ECHELON-2 trial showed that brentuximab vedotin added to a combination of cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and prednisone (BV+CHP) nearly doubled progression-free...
Selinexor Induces Deep Responses in Refractory Multiple Myeloma
More than one-quarter of patients with refractory multiple myeloma (MM) responded to treatment with a combination of selinexor and low-dose dexamethasone, according to results...
REACHing Children With Sickle Cell Anemia in Sub-Saharan Africa
Daily treatment with hydroxyurea was feasible, well-tolerated, and safe for children with sickle cell anemia (SCA) living in sub-Saharan Africa, according to results from...
Four Cycles as Effective as Six Cycles of Chemotherapy for Favorable-Risk DLBCL
While young patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) are typically treated with six cycles of R-CHOP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone), results from...
Luspatercept Reduces the Need for Transfusions in Patients With Beta Thalassemia and MDS
In two separate phase III trials presented at the 2018 ASH Annual Meeting, luspatercept, a first-in-class recombinant fusion protein, was found to be safe...
New Drug Approvals in Nonmalignant Hematology
In 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) set a record for the number of approvals for new therapies – or new indications...
Algorithm Built on Big Data Improves Prognostic Accuracy Over Existing MDS Models
Using machine learning, researchers were able to develop a prognostic model that predicted survival among patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and was more accurate...
Apixaban Superior to LMWH in Reducing Recurrence of Cancer-Associated VTE
Results from a trial presented at the 2018 ASH Annual Meeting add more support for the use of direct oral anticoagulants in patients with...
First-in-Human Trial Shows AMG 330 Is Tolerable in Relapsed/Refractory AML
AMG 330, an anti-CD33 bispecific T-cell engager (BiTE®) antibody construct, was generally tolerable and demonstrated anti-leukemic activity in patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia...
For Older Patients With CLL, Ibrutinib-Based Treatment Beats Standard Chemoimmunotherapy
Results from a randomized phase III study indicate that the Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor ibrutinib with or without rituximab was superior to standard-of-care,...
