July 2020 Bonus Mid-Year Edition
Volume 6, Issue 9
This issue features analysis of COVID-19-associated lymphopenia, coverage from the virtual ASCO and EHA annual meetings, and more.
Table of Contents
July 2020 Bonus Mid-Year Edition
Editor’s Corner: What We Do When We Don’t Know What to Do
We are in the middle of a global “Oh, crap” moment. One of those moments when we’re in over our heads, the water keeps...
July 2020 Bonus Mid-Year Edition
Shelter From the Cytokine Storm
How the immune system responds to the infection is among the major questions clinicians and researchers must answer to identify therapies and develop a...
July 2020 Bonus Mid-Year Edition
Can Risk-Adapted EPOCH-R Replace Intensive Therapy for Burkitt Lymphoma?
Adults with Burkitt lymphoma are typically treated with dose-intensive combination chemotherapy derived from pediatric leukemia regimens, which the study investigators noted is “acutely toxic...
FDA Grants Accelerated Approval to Tazemetostat for Follicular Lymphoma
Tazemetostat, an enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) gene inhibitor, was granted accelerated approval for two indications in adults with relapsed or refractory follicular...
Study Supports Use of AHCT Over VMP as Intensification in Newly Diagnosed Myeloma
In patients with newly diagnosed myeloma, following induction chemotherapy, early autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (AHCT) as intensification therapy prolonged progression-free survival (PFS), compared with...
CMS Proposes Higher Reimbursement Rate for CAR T-Cell Therapies
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed a new system for calculating reimbursement rates for hospitals administering chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)...
Pomalidomide-Based Regimen Associated With Durable Response in Lenalidomide-Refractory Myeloma
Treatment with a regimen consisting of pomalidomide, low-dose dexamethasone, and daratumumab as either second- or third-line therapy induced durable responses in a high proportion...
PTG-300 Receives Orphan Drug Designation for Treatment of Polycythemia Vera
The FDA granted orphan drug designation to PTG-300 for the treatment of phlebotomy-requiring polycythemia vera (PV). PTG-300 is an injectable synthetic hepcidin mimetic in...
FDA Partners With NY Health Tech Firm to Collect Real-world COVID-19 Data
The FDA announced a new research project to collect real-world data from insurance companies and electronic health records on the use of diagnostic tests...
Early FVIII Prophylaxis Improves Long-Term Joint Outcomes in Severe Hemophilia A
Joint bleeding results in acute and chronic pain for patients living with severe hemophilia A, but joint outcomes improve when prophylactic factor VIII (FVIII)...
July 2020 Bonus Mid-Year Edition
Systemic Bevacizumab Improves Anemia, Reduces Bleeding in Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia
Treatment with systemic bevacizumab reduced bleeding and significantly increased hemoglobin levels in patients with the rare bleeding disorder hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT), according to...
DREAMM-6: Evaluating Belantamab Mafodotin and Bortezomib Plus Dexamethasone in Relapsed/Refractory Myeloma
Early data from the DREAMM-6 study suggest that the combination of belantamab mafodotin, bortezomib, and dexamethasone is active in patients with relapsed or refractory...
CC-486 Improves Transfusion Independence in MDS, but Adverse Events Are Common
For patients with lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and both red blood cell (RBC) transfusion-dependent anemia and thrombocytopenia, CC-486, an oral formulation of the hypomethylating...
ENDURANCE: Comparing KRd With VRd in Newly Diagnosed Myeloma
Initial treatment with carfilzomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (KRd) was not associated with longer progression-free survival (PFS) compared with bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (VRd) in...
DVT Increases Health-Care Burden and Mortality in Patients with Cancer
Patients with cancer and deep vein thrombosis (DVT) experience higher rates of hospitalization and mortality, are less frequently treated with thrombolysis, and experience gastrointestinal...
KEYNOTE-204: Pembrolizumab Superior to Brentuximab in Relapsed/Refractory Classic Hodgkin Lymphoma
Treatment with anti-PD-1 antibody pembrolizumab prolonged progression-free survival (PFS) more than brentuximab vedotin (BV) in patients with relapsed or refractory classic Hodgkin lymphoma (R/R...
BCMA Bispecific Antibody “Promising” for Relapsed or Refractory Myeloma
Interim results from a phase I dose-finding study suggest that CC-93269, a bispecific antibody that binds B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) on malignant plasma cells...
Examining PTSD Symptoms in Patients Undergoing HCT
When patients undergo hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT), they are usually hospitalized and isolated for a prolonged period and may experience a substantial physical and...
ASPEN: Comparing Zanubrutinib With Ibrutinib in Waldenström Macroglobulinemia
Treatment with the selective Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor zanubrutinib resulted in a higher combined complete response (CR) and very good partial response (VGPR)...
CRISPR-Based Therapy Targeting BCL11 Shows Clinical Benefit in SCD and Beta-Thalassemia
Treatment with the CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing therapy CTX001 was associated with successful neutrophil and platelet engraftment in 2 patients with transfusion-dependent β-thalassemia (TDT) and 1...
Interim Results of Randomized Comparison of Ponatinib Starting Doses in Chronic-Phase CML
Response-based ponatinib dosing demonstrated clinical benefit in patients with resistant chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) with rate of arterial occlusive (AO) events that did...
