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An open-label, single-arm, phase II study in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia demonstrated the frontline AVO triplet, comprised of acalabrutinib, venetoclax, and obinutuzumab, achieved undetectable minimal residual disease in the bone marrow in 48% of patients after only 8 monthly cycles of therapy, according to lead author Benjamin L. Lampson, MD, PhD, who presented the findings at the 2019 ASH Annual Meeting.

Updated follow-up analysis of the phase III E1912 study showed that ibrutinib/rituximab induced higher rates of progression-free survival (PFS) when compared against fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and rituximab in patients ≤70 years with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), according to Tait D. Shanafelt, MD, who presented the findings at the 2019 ASH Annual Meeting.

Patients <70 years old with chronic lymphocytic leukemia treated in the minimal residual disease (MRD)–cohort of the phase II CAPTIVATE trial had undetectable MRD rates of 75% and 72% in the peripheral blood and bone marrow, respectively, with the frontline combination of ibrutinib and venetoclax, according to findings presented at the 2019 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.

In November 2019, the FDA approved a number of treatments, including acalabrutinib for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and small lymphocytic leukemia, as well as zanubrutinib for the treatment of mantle cell lymphoma. A biosimilar for pegfilgrastim was also approved under indications.

In patients whose solid<strong> </strong>tumors harbor a mutation in <em>KRAS </em>G12C, therapy with MRTX849 has produced promising responses and acceptable toxicity across 3 tumors types, according to data presented at the 2019 American Association for Cancer Research&ndash;National Cancer Institute&ndash;European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics.

Hodgkin lymphoma represents approximately 10% of all cases of malignant lymphoma. This group of diseases most commonly affects adolescent and young adults, although approximately 20% to 25% of patients are aged &ge;60 years at diagnosis. Advanced-stage disease is generally classified as Ann Arbor stage III to IV, but clinical trials often incorporate patients with high-risk stage II disease, such as those with B symptoms, multiple sites, or bulky disease

The FDA has approved acalabrutinib for the treatment of adult patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma as either an initial or subsequent therapy.