HEMATOLOGY

Sagar Lonial, MD, professor and chair, Department of Hematology & Medical Oncology, Emory University School of Medicine, chief medical officer, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, discusses the results from 2 large phase III trials presented earlier this year for triplet regimens including pomalidomide in multiple myeloma.

Quizartinib has been granted a breakthrough therapy designation by the FDA&nbsp;for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed/refractory&nbsp;<em>FLT3</em>-ITD&ndash;positive acute myeloid leukemia.

The FDA issued several approvals in July, including in colorectal cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and acute myeloid leukemia.&nbsp;Here&rsquo;s a look back on the FDA happenings for the month of July 2018.

Susan M. O&#39;Brien, MD, associate director for clinical sciences at UC Irvine Health, shares her insights on why CAR T cells are not as successful in chronic lymphocytic leukemia as compared to lymphoma or acute lymphocytic leukemia. She also discusses what she believes must change in order for this therapy to move up in the treatment landscape for CLL.

In an interview with&nbsp;<em>Targeted Oncology</em>, Paul G. Richardson, MD,&nbsp;clinical program leader and director of Clinical Research in the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute,&nbsp;discussed the results from the OPTIMISMM trial. He also shared his insight on the significance of these findings and what he expects to see in the future for this patient population.

Jacqueline D. Barrientos, MD, MS,&nbsp;discusses the current treatment landscape for CLL. She also highlights some of the biggest challenges for physicians and gave her insight on how to move forward in the field.

The R² regimen of lenalidomide (Revlimid) with&nbsp;rituximab (Rituxan) significantly improved progression-free survival compared with&nbsp;rituximab monotherapy in the&nbsp;treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory indolent lymphoma, meeting the primary endpoint of the phase III AUGMENT trial, Celegene,&nbsp;the manufacturer of lenalidomide, has announced.

Anthony R. Mato, MD, MSCE,&nbsp;discusses the next steps for umbralisib and the biggest challenges still facing patients with CLL.

Daniel A. Pollyea, MD, MS, associate professor of medicine&nbsp;and clinical director of Leukemia Services at the University of Colorado&nbsp;School of Medicine, discusses some of the recent advancements in acute myeloid leukemia. Pollyea says researchers have been able to create more personalized treatments for many patients by doing targeted sequencing of patient samples.

Therapeutic Approach for IDH2-Mutated AML

Ivosidenib (Tibsovo) has been granted approval by the FDA for the treatment of&nbsp;adult patients with relapsed/refractory <em>IDH1</em>-mutant acute myeloid leukemia.

Several studies presented at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting helped further refine and inform treatment strategies for the budding class of CAR T-cell therapies, particularly those directed at CD19, in patients with hematologic malignancies, with a focus on predicting adverse events and optimizing efficacy.

Danielle M. Brander, MD, assistant professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine and member of the Duke Cancer Institute, discusses a major challenge in the field of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. She says the biggest challenge to overcome in the treatment of patients with CLL is navigating areas where research is not yet mature.&nbsp;

Now that chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies have received FDA approval for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) after moving quickly through early phase clinical trials, research is now exploring ways to&nbsp;shift these agents earlier in the treatment paradigm, according to a discussion at the 2nd Annual Live Medical Crossfire on Hematologic Malignancies.

While the approval of new agents represents a great step forward in the treatment of&nbsp;chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), physicians are now challenged with how to best utilize these new treatment options,&nbsp;according to a presentation by Anthony Mato, MD, MSCE, at the 2nd Annual Live Medical Crossfire: Hematologic Malignancies.

Michael Wang, MD, discusses what he hopes to find in the ZUMA-2 trial and his belief that MCL can be cured in his lifetime.

The FDA has received a supplemental New Drug Application for venetoclax in combination with&nbsp;a hypomethylating agent or low-dose cytarabine as a frontline treatment for&nbsp;patients with acute myeloid leukemia who are ineligible for intensive chemotherapy, Genentech, the manufacturer of the BCL-2 inhibitor, has announced.

An updated analysis of obinutuzumab alone or in combination with chemotherapy for patients with treatment-na&iuml;ve or relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia detected no new safety signals. Investigators in the phase IIIb GREEN trial also found overall response rates greater than 80% at 3 months post-treatment in some patients.

In topline findings from the phase III TOURMALINE-MM3 study, maintenance treatment with the proteasome inhibitor ixazomib improved progression-free survival compared with placebo in adult&nbsp;patients with multiple myeloma who responded to high-dose therapy and autologous stem cell transplant.