Hematologic Malignancies

Chicago, IL—Interim results from the phase 3 COMMANDS trial demonstrated that first-line treatment with luspatercept-aamt (Reblozyl) increased hemoglobin levels and enabled nearly twice as many patients with transfusion-dependent, lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) to avoid red blood cell transfusions during the first 24 weeks of the study compared with standard-of-care epoetin alfa. Read More ›

In a session during the 2023 National Comprehensive Cancer Network Annual Conference, Deborah M. Stephens, DO, provided important updates to treatment recommendations for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)/small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL), and identified key factors for selecting frontline and subsequent therapies, including IGHV gene status, 17p deletion/TP53 mutation status, age, patient comorbidities, and resistance mutations. Read More ›

A head-to-head phase 3 clinical trial in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)/small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) has found that zanubrutinib (Brukinsa), a next-generation Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor, was more effective at preventing disease progression and is better tolerated than ibrutinib (Imbruvica), a first-generation BTK inhibitor that is the current standard of care for this population of patients. Read More ›

In the phase 3 DETERMINATION trial—in which patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma were randomly assigned to a standard triplet regimen with and without autologous stem-cell transplantation (ASCT), with all receiving lenalidomide (Revlimid) maintenance therapy until disease progression—patients with ASCT had significantly longer progression-free survival (PFS) versus those who did not, but no difference in overall survival (OS) was observed between the 2 treatment arms. Read More ›

Treatment with acalabrutinib (Calquence) elicited a complete or partial response in ≥50% of patients with relapsed or refractory marginal zone lymphoma (MZL), according to interim results of a study presented by L. Elizabeth Budde, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, City of Hope, Duarte, CA, at the 2022 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting. Read More ›

More than 50% of adults with refractory or relapsed large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL) who were not deemed candidates for high-dose chemotherapy and hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) had complete responses (CRs) following treatment with the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy lisocabtagene maraleucel (Breyanzi). Read More ›

The addition of isatuximab (Sarclisa) to the triplet of lenalidomide (Revlimid), bortezomib (Velcade), and dexamethasone (RVd) achieved superior minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity rates versus standard therapy with RVd alone as induction treatment in transplant-eligible patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, according to results of the phase 3 GMMG-HD7 clinical trial presented at the 2021 ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition. Read More ›

A single dose of ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel), an investigational B-cell maturation antigen–directed CAR T-cell therapy, resulted in early, deep, and durable responses in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, according to updated results from the phase 1b/2 CARTITUDE-1 clinical trial. Read More ›

According to the American Cancer Society, nearly 35,000 new cases of multiple myeloma will be diagnosed in the United States in 2021, and approximately 12,410 deaths will be attributed to the disease. Read More ›

The combination of the investigational drug pevonedistat in combination with azacitidine injection (Vidaza) leads to longer event-free survival (EFS) and a higher complete response rate than azacitidine alone in patients with high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), according to results from a phase 2, open-label, international clinical trial. Read More ›