ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition

Ibrutinib as monotherapy and combined with rituximab significantly improved progression-free survival compared with bendamustine plus rituximab as frontline therapy for older patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Ahead of the 2018 ASH Annual Meeting, multiple myeloma experts Sundar Jagannath, MBBS, selected the most pivotal abstracts in their field.

Jesus Berdeja, MD, director of Multiple Myeloma Research, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discusses next steps with the CAR T-cell therapy bb2121 in multiple myeloma.

Frederick Locke, MD, Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses the results of the ZUMA-6 trial investigating axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel; KTE-C19) in combination with atezolizumab (Tecentriq) for the treatment of patients with refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).

The combination of the CAR T-cell therapy axicabtagene ciloleucel and the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab was highly active with a manageable safety profile in patients with refractory DLBCL enrolled in the phase I/II ZUMA-6 trial.

Patients with myeloproliferative neoplasm‒associated myelofibrosis had prolonged treatment duration and improved survival compared with historical controls when treated with pegylated interferon alfa-2a.

The MEK inhibitor cobimetinib (Cotellic) led to objective responses in 14 of 16 patients with BRAF-mutated and wild-type histiocytic disorders.

Two-year findings from the follow-up phase III CONTI-PV randomized trial showed that ropeginterferon alfa-2b, a novel pegylated formulation of interferon alfa-2b, reached a significantly higher rate of complete hematologic response versus hydroxyurea in patients with polycythemia vera.

About two-thirds of patients with hydroxyurea-resistant/intolerant polycythemia vera or high-risk essential thrombocytopenia had objective responses to pegylated interferon alfa-2a.

Responses to ruxolitinib (Jakafi) in patients with polycythemia vera were maintained by a majority of primary responders at 4 years’ follow-up.

Almost half of patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia achieved complete response with the combination of selinexor (KPT-330) and AraC-containing chemotherapy.

Selinexor combined with weekly bortezomib and low-dose dexamethasone produced rapid and durable responses in a dose escalation/expansion trial of patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

Adding ibrutinib to a standard frontline chemoimmunotherapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia induced negative minimum residual disease status in bone marrow for 83% of patients.

The addition of carfilzomib to lenalidomide and dexamethasone for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma led to a statistically significant 21% reduction in the risk for death compared with lenalidomide and dexamethasone.

Andre Goy, MD, sheds light on some studies as well as future treatment options for patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

The B-cell maturation antigen antibody-drug conjugate GSK2857916 induced an overall response rate of 60% in heavily pretreated patients with multiple myeloma.

Maintenance therapy with elotuzumab (Empliciti) and lenalidomide (Revlimid) after autologous stem cell transplant improves the quality of response achieved with induction therapy in patients with multiple myeloma.

The IDH1 inhibitor ivosidenib induced a complete response (CR) or CR with partial hematologic recovery for 30.4% of patients with relapsed/refractory IDH1-mutant acute myeloid leukemia.

Patients with cancer who have venous thromboembolism had similar rates of recurrent VTE or bleeding with the oral factor Xa inhibitor edoxaban (Savaysa) or the low-molecular weight heparin dalteparin (Fragmin).

Naveen Pemmaraju, MD, Department of Leukemia, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the clinical trial results for LCL161 in patients with intermediate or high-risk myelofibrosis.

Daratumumab (Darzalex) displayed single-agent activity in intermediate- and high-risk smoldering multiple myeloma, according to results from the phase II CENTAURUS study.

Ian Flinn, MD, Director of the Blood Cancer Research Program, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discusses the safety, efficacy, and MRD negativity of a combination of venetoclax (Venclexta) and obinutuzumab (Gazyva) in patients with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) during the 2017 ASH Annual Meeting. Overall, 32 patients were treated with this combination in the first-line setting. Investigators saw high complete remission (CR) rates, with over two-thirds of patients experiencing a CR, Flinn explains. In addition, high MRD negativity rates were also demonstrated, in both the peripheral blood and the bone marrow.

The addition of daratumumab to bortezomib, melphalan, and prednisone (VMP) reduced the risk of progression or death by 50% compared with VMP alone for transplant-ineligible patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.

The combination of venetoclax and rituximab reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 83% versus bendamustine plus rituximab in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Michael Wang, MD, professor in the Department of Lymphoma and Myeloma at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses results from the phase II ACE-LY-004 trial, which explored the BTK inhibitor acalabrutinib (Calquence) in patients with refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

Sattva Neelapu, MD, associate professor, Department of Lymphoma/Myeloma, Division of Cancer Medicine, at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the updated findings of the ZUMA-1 trial investigating axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel; Yescarta) for patients with refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Andre Goy, MD, chairman and director, chief of Lymphoma, and director of Clinical and Translational Cancer Research at John Theurer Cancer Center, discusses single-agent ibrutinib (Imbruvica) in mantle cell lymphoma.

Liso-cel (lisocabtagene maraleucel), formally known as JCAR017, induced an objective response rate of 81% with a complete remission rate of 63% in patients with relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.