HEMATOLOGY

The American Society of Hematology (ASH) recently presented Charles Mullighan, MD, of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, with the 2016 William Dameshek Prize in recognition of his leadership in defining the landscape of genetic alterations of acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL).

The American Society of Hematology (ASH) recently honored Thalia Papayannopoulou, MD, with the Wallace H. Coulter Award for Lifetime Achievement in Hematology in recognition of her innovative contributions to the field of hematology.

According to recent study findings, the investigational BTK inhibitor acalabrutinib was shown to be well-tolerated and effective in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and small lymphocytic leukemia (SLL) who display intolerance to ibrutinib (Imbruvica).

The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) has announced that Paul M. Sondel, MD, PhD, will receive the 2017 Richard V. Smalley, MD Memorial Lectureship Award.

Treatment with the BTK inhibitor BGB-3111 had an objective response rate (ORR) of 96% for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and small lymphocytic leukemia (SLL).

The CD19-directed CAR T-cell therapy JCAR017 demonstrated a 60% complete response (CR) rate in patients with relapsed or refractory CD19-positive non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Graham Jackson, MD, PhD, Northern Institute for Cancer Research, Newcastle University, discusses results of a study that determined lenalidomide (Revlimid) is a highly-effective maintenance therapy in myeloma patients of all ages.

Findings of a recent randomized trial showed patients with myelofibrosis and thrombocytopenia had significantly greater reductions in spleen volume and symptoms when treated with the multikinase inhibitor pacritinib, compared with the best available therapy (BAT).

Combining the PI3 kinase inhibitor TGR-1202 and ibrutinib (Imbruvica) for patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) demonstrated a high response rate without dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs).

The CAR T-cell therapy CTL019 demonstrated an 82% complete remission or CR with incomplete blood count recovery rate for pediatric and young adult patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

The next-generation BTK inhibitor acalabrutinib produced an objective response rate (ORR) of 38.1% as a monotherapy for patents with Richter transformation (RT), according to findings from the phase I/II ACE-CL-001 study presented at the 2016 ASH Annual Meeting.

Alex Herrera, MD, assistant professor, City of Hope, discusses a study investigating the use of brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) and nivolumab (Opdivo) in the treatment of relapsed or treatment-resistant Hodgkin lymphoma during the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting.

Early data from a phase I/II study suggest that the combination of brentuximab vedotin and nivolumab may be an active and well-tolerated outpatient regimen in patients with relapsed/refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma after failure of standard frontline chemotherapy.

Two-thirds of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia that progressed on B-cell receptor pathway inhibitors had objective responses to treatment with venetoclax (Venclexta), results of a small open-label trial showed.

Treatment with the CD19-directed CAR T-cell therapy KTE-C19 showed a complete remission rate of 73% for patients with aggressive, chemorefractory primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma and transformed follicular lymphoma, according to findings from the multicenter phase II ZUMA-1 study.

Kathryn Kolibaba, MD, associate chair of hematology research program, US Oncology, discusses an ongoing phase 2 study of brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) with as frontline therapy in patients with high-intermediate/high-risk diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).<br /> &nbsp;

Nitin Jain, MD, assistant professor, Department of Leukemia, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses a phase II trial combining nivolumab (Opdivo) with ibrutinib (Imbruvica) for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and richter transformation (RT) during the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting.<br /> &nbsp;

Treatment with enasidenib (AG221) was active and was well tolerated in pretreated patients with IDH2-mutated myelodysplastic syndrome, including those who failed hypomethylating agents, according to findings from a phase I/II study.

Combination induction therapy with ibrutinib (Imbruvica) and obinutuzumab (Gazyva) after bendamustine debulking induced a 100% response rate in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), according to findings from the phase II CLL2-BIG trial.&nbsp;

The combination of lirilumab and azacytidine was well tolerated and showed early signals of activity in heavily pretreated patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to phase Ib/II findings presented at the 2016 ASH Annual Meeting.

Lenalidomide as maintenance following first-line immunochemotherapy substantially improves progression-free survival in the treatment of patients with high-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), according to interim analysis of the phase III CLLM1 study.

Findings from the longest follow-up to date evaluating up to 5 years of ibrutinib (Imbruvica) in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) show that the agent is safe and effective.

Combining obinutuzumab (Gazyva) with chemotherapy in the first-line setting reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 34% versus rituximab (Rituxan) plus chemotherapy in patients with follicular lymphoma, according to findings from the phase III GALLIUM study.

Jeffrey Jones, MD, MPH, associate professor of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, discusses the benefits of venetoclax in chronic lymphocytic luekemia (CLL).

With treatment for newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia remaining essentially unchanged over the last 4 decades, researchers are hopeful that the addition of the investigational agent vadastuximab talirine to standard 7+3 induction therapy may improve survival for these patients.&nbsp;