March 2020
Volume 6, Issue 4
This issue looks at how cost-effective analyses are used to inform health-care decisions, explains the latest maintenance of certification requirements, and more.
Table of Contents
March 2020 Issue
Reader Responses: What is the best consolidation therapy for this patient with primary central...
Here’s how readers responded to a You Make the Call question about the treatment of primary central nervous system lymphoma.
Disclaimer: ASH does not recommend...
How Science Informs Advocacy
Last year, the American Society of Hematology (ASH) selected Zachary Kiser, PhD, as its 2019-2020 ASH Congressional Fellow. The program aims to connect hematologists...
Visions of the Future
In our January issue, new ASH Clinical News Editor-in-Chief David Steensma, MD, reflected on the reputation of the year 2020, a date frequently used...
Editor’s Corner: The China Conundrum
As I begin writing this editorial, nanoscience expert Charles Lieber, PhD, Chair of Harvard University’s Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, is sitting in...
March 2020 Issue
FDA Grants Belantamab Mafodotin Priority Review for Myeloma
The FDA granted priority review to the biologics license application of belantamab mafodotin for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma...
Sickle Cell Disease Gene Therapy Receives Orphan Drug Designation
ARU-1801, an investigational gene therapy for the treatment of sickle cell disease (SCD) and beta thalassemia, was granted orphan drug designation by the FDA.
ARU-1801...
Avadomide Shows Promising Clinical Activity and Tolerability in Relapsed/Refractory DLBCL
Avadomide monotherapy demonstrated preliminary clinical efficacy in patients with relapsed and refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), according to results from a phase I...
Peripherally Inserted Central Catheters Sharply Increase Risk of Childhood VTE Events
In children who received central venous catheters, peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) appear to be associated with a higher risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE),...
BioMarin Sets High Price Tag for Hemophilia Gene Therapy Candidate
If its experimental gene therapy for patients with hemophilia A is approved by the FDA, BioMarin Pharmaceutical is considering pricing valoctocogene roxaparvovec (valrox) between...
ICER Report Finds That Sickle Cell Drugs Are Too Expensive
According to a draft report by the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), SCD drugs made by Novartis, Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT), and...
The MAGIC Marker: Measurements of Two Serum Biomarkers Predict GVHD Treatment Response
Measuring damage to crypts in the gastrointestinal tract during graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) via the Mount Sinai Acute GVHD International Consortium (MAGIC) algorithm probability (MAP)...
How Common Is Serotonin Release Assay-Negative Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia?
Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT), a prothrombotic drug reaction caused by platelet-activating anti-platelet factor 4 (PF4)/heparin antibodies, is commonly diagnosed with the platelet serotonin-release assay (SRA)...
Early Peripheral Blast Cell Clearance Predicts Response to Induction Chemotherapy in Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Early peripheral blast cell clearance (PBC) assessed by leukocyte differential is well established as a predictor of leukemia induction outcome, but measuring PBC by...
FDA Approves Ferric Derisomaltose for Iron-Deficiency Anemia
The ferric derisomaltose injection received FDA approval for the treatment of iron-deficiency anemia in adults who are intolerant to oral iron, whose disease has...
A 42-Item Frailty Index Improves Survival Prediction in Myelodysplastic Syndromes
In a recent Leukemia paper, researchers reported on a new 42-variable frailty index (FI) for patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), which appears to improve...
ASH Releases Clinical Practice Guidelines on SCD-Related Transfusion Support, Opens Access to LLS’ Clinical...
ASH Releases Clinical Practice Guidelines on Sickle Cell Disease-Related Transfusion Support
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) has released new clinical practice guidelines on Sickle...
David H. Koch Center Opens at MSKCC, Sidney Kimmel Welcomes Usama Gergis, and more
Patrick White Appointed Chair in Palliative Medicine and Supportive Care
Patrick White, MD, director of the Division of Palliative Medicine at Washington University School of...
Evaluating Efgartigimod in Patients With Primary Immune Thrombocytopenia
Treatment with the neonatal Fc receptor antagonist efgartigimod led to clinically relevant increases in platelet counts in patients with primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), according...
Treatment With Four Cycles of R-CHOP Is Non-Inferior to Six Cycles in Some Aggressive...
For patients with aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and a favorable prognosis, treatment with four cycles of R-CHOP (rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and...
March 2020 Issue
What’s a Life Worth and Who Gets to Decide?
In an ideal world, all patients would receive the best possible care regardless of cost. However, since wealth is unevenly distributed and there are...
Say Cheese: Kandice Marchant, MD, PhD
In this edition of pASHions, Kandice Marchant, MD, PhD, tells us about turning her love of cheesemaking into a business venture and the surprising similarities...
Pulling Back the Curtain: Amy DeZern, MD, MHS
In this edition, Amy DeZern, MD, MHS, talks about the life experience that cemented her desire to go into medicine and the value of...
March 2020 Issue
Maintenance of Certification: An Update on ABIM’s Evolving Requirements
Three decades ago, the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) announced the end of the “board-certified-for-life” status that had been in place since the...
You Make the Call: What is the best consolidation therapy for this patient with...
This month, Erin Reid, MD, discusses treatment of primary central nervous system lymphoma.
And don't forget to check out next month's clinical dilemma - send...
How I Treat in Brief: Early Relapsing Follicular Lymphoma
Carla Casulo, MD, and Paul M. Barr, MD, from the Wilmot Cancer Institute at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, reviewed...
