Hematologic Oncology

Use of ibrutinib (Imbruvica) significantly increased the risk of early onset hypertension and was associated with long-term risk of developing other major cardiotoxic events in patients with B-cell malignancies.

Raajit K. Rampal, MD, PhD, discusses current available treatments for patients with polycythemia vera and myelofibrosis, as well as the unmet needs in this area of research.

The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has issued a positive opinion for a Marketing Authorization Application of fostamatinib disodium hexahydrate for the treatment of adult patients with chronic immune thrombocytopenia who are refractory to other treatments.

The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has recommended approval of the antibody-drug conjugate polatuzumab vedotin for use in combination with bendamustine and rituximab for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma who are not candidates for a hematopoietic stem cell transplant.

The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has recommended the combination of lenalidomide and rituximab for the treatment of adult patients with grade 1 to 3a previously treated follicular lymphoma.

During a recent OncLive Peer Exchange® program, a panel of leukemia experts provided an overview of these agents and shared their perspectives on how clinicians can incorporate them into their clinical practice.

Treatment with the selective ROCK2 inhibitor KD025 led to statistically significant overall response rates in patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease who have received ≥2 prior lines of systemic therapy.

Investigators are exploring the novel genetic biomarker DGM1 as a potential predictor of benefit from the experimental agent enzastaurin in treatment-naïve patients with high-risk diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

The FDA has approved luspatercept-aamt (Reblozyl) for the treatment of anemia in adult patients with beta thalassemia who require regular red blood cell transfusions.

Ixazomib significantly improved progression-free survival as a first-line maintenance therapy compared with placebo in adult patients with multiple myeloma who have not undergone stem cell transplantation, meeting the primary endpoint of the phase III TOURMALINE-MM4 study.

Novel combinations of biologic therapies, third-generation TKIs, and chemotherapy could lead to significantly higher cure rates for adult patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, with a number of early stage studies already showing promising results, according to Hagop M. Kantarjian, MD, at the 37th Annual CFS®.

Given that a watch-and-wait approach is a viable option, clinicians must carefully consider disease characteristics when selecting a treatment strategy in newly diagnosed follicular lymphoma.

With a variety of available agents in follicular lymphoma, determining which treatments to choose and how best to sequence them can be challenging.

Jasmine M. Zain, MD, hematologist/oncologist, associate clinical professor, Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, and director, T cell Lymphoma program, City of Hope, discusses targets that are under investigation in T-cell lymphomas.

Gilteritinib demonstrated a higher remission rate and a statistically significant improvement in overall survival compared with salvage chemotherapy in patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia who harbor a FLT3 mutation.

OncLive interviewed experts at the State of the Science Summits™ in October 2019 on what they wish more people knew in community practice that is not yet widespread.

Umbralisib (TGR-1202) met the primary endpoint of overall response rate in the follicular lymphoma cohort of the pivotal phase IIb UNITY-NHL trial, according to TG Therapeutics, Inc., the developer of the PI3K-delta inhibitor.

Treatment with iodine-131 apamistamab led to a high bone marrow transplant rate compared with salvage chemotherapy in elderly patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia.

The European Commission has approved gilteritinib as a single agent for the treatment of relapsed/refractory patients with FLT3-mutant acute myeloid leukemia.

Daria V. Babushok, MD, PhD, discusses treatment advances in paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria.

Alexander E. Perl, MD, MS, discusses the challenges of using immunotherapy with antibody-drug conjugates, bispecific T-cell engagers, and CAR T-cell therapies in acute myeloid leukemia.

Gary J. Schiller, MD, discusses the heterogeneity of acute myeloid leukemia.

Rituximab is used ubiquitously in the treatment of B-cell lymphomas, and has set the paradigm the field has been trying to match in drug development.

The FDA has approved a supplemental Biologics License Application for romiplostim, updating its label to include data demonstrating sustained platelet responses in adults with immune thrombocytopenia. Romiplostim is approved for the treatment of adult patients with newly diagnosed or persistent who have had an insufficient response to corticosteroids, immunoglobulins, or splenectomy.

Andrew T. Kuykendall, MD, discusses the use of ruxolitinib versus fedratinib in patients with myelofibrosis.