Latest Conference Articles

Maintenance therapy with rituximab did not lead to an improvement in disease-free survival among patients who achieved complete remission following 4 cycles of R-CHOP.

Among the most highly anticipated study results to be presented during the 2019 European Hematology Association Congress were those of the phase III ASCEND trial, which investigated the use of acalabrutinib monotherapy in patients with previously-treated chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Ibrutinib monotherapy significantly improved event- and progression-free survival compared with placebo in treatment-naïve patients with early-stage, asymptomatic chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Despite promising progression-free survival and response data with venetoclax in combination with bortezomib and dexamethasone, an increased number of deaths due to infection in the experimental arm marred overall survival findings in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

Susan M. O’Brien, MD, associate director for Clinical Services, Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California Irvine Medical Center, discusses the phase III ASCEND trial in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Hu5F9-G4 (5F9), a first-in-class antibody targeting CD47, used as monotherapy or in combination with standard azacitidine was well tolerated and provided deep and durable responses in patients with acute myeloid leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome, according to findings from a phase IB study presented at the 2019 European Hematology Association Congress.

Gail Roboz, MD, a professor of medicine and director of the Clinical and Translational Leukemia Program at Weill Cornell MedicineNewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, discusses the QuANTUM-R trial, which evaluated quizartinib versus chemotherapy in patients with relapsed/refractory FLT3-mutant acute myeloid leukemia.

Alessandra Tedeschi MD, Department of Hematology, Azienda Ospedaliera Niguarda Ca' Granda in Milan, Italy, discusses the long-term findings of the phase III RESONATE-2 trial during the 2019 European Hematology Association Congress.

Othman Al-Sawaf, MD, discusses findings from the CLL14 trial, the rationale for exploring this proposed combination, and shares his thoughts on the emerging treatment paradigms in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

The combination of rigosertib and azacitidine demonstrated improved response rates over single-agent azacitidine in patients with higher-risk myelodysplastic syndrome, including patients naïve to a hypomethylating (HMA) agent and those who were refractory to HMAs.

Naval G. Daver, MD, discusses the data that support quizartinib so far, ongoing investigations with this drug in the frontline setting, and the potential for the agent to be approved by the FDA.

Frontline therapy with ibrutinib was successfully administered for more than 60 months in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia aged 65 years and older and provided improved progression-free and overall survival compared with chlorambucil.

Imetelstat treatment may allow patients with debilitating anemia due to myelodysplastic syndrome to remain transfusion-free for extended periods of time.

The triplet regimen of elotuzumab plus pomalidomide and dexamethasone led to a 46% reduction in the risk of death compared with pomalidomide/dexamethasone alone in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, according to updated findings of the phase II ELOQUENT-3 trial.

Simon Rule, MD, PhD, Plymouth University Medical School, discusses results of the phase III MabCute study evaluating subcutaneous rituximab as maintenance after standard subcutaneous rituximab induction and maintenance in patients who have relapsed or refractory indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Ajai Chari, MD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, discusses INSIGHT MM (NCT02761187), the largest global, prospective, non-interventional, observational study on multiple myeloma to date.

The efficacy of larotrectinib is supported in distinct patient populations with TRK fusion cancer—specifically pediatric patients and adult or pediatric patients with brain metastases or primary central nervous system tumors.

Neratinib combined with capecitabine reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 24% compared with lapatinib plus capecitabine in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer who received at least 2 prior lines of HER2-targeted therapy.

Adding the Akt inhibitor capivasertib to fulvestrant led to a more than doubling of progression-free survival compared with fulvestrant alone in patients with endocrine-resistant estrogen receptor-positive advanced breast cancer.

Margetuximab, a novel Fc-engineered HER2-targeted antibody, improved progression-free survival compared with trastuzumab in patients with pretreated HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer in the open-label phase III SOPHIA clinical trial.

Simultaneous targeting of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase and the CD20 antigen led to overall responses in more than 90% of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, including untreated and relapsed/refractory disease.

Hope S. Rugo, MD, director, Breast Oncology and Clinical Trials Education, University of California San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the phase III SOPHIA trial of margetuximab plus chemotherapy versus trastuzumab (Herceptin) plus capecitabine in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer after prior anti–HER2-targeted therapies.

Caroline Robert, MD, PhD, head of the Dermatology Unit in Gustave Roussy Cancer Center, Villejuif-Paris, France, discusses results of a 5-year analysis evaluating the long-term effects of dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and trametinib (Mekinist) in patients with BRAF V600–mutant unresectable or metastatic melanoma.

The PARP inhibitor olaparib reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 38% versus chemotherapy in patients with platinum-sensitive, relapsed, germline BRCA1/2-mutated ovarian cancer who received at least 2 prior lines of chemotherapy.

The addition of venetoclax to obinutuzumab reduced the risk for disease worsening or death by 65% compared with obinutuzumab plus chlorambucil in patients with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

A chemotherapy-free doublet for platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian cancer more than doubled progression-free survival as compared with single-agent PARP inhibitor.

Two new therapies are showing encouraging findings for patients with NSCLC with either RET rearranged or EGFR exon 20 insertions, raising hope that 2 hard-to-target driver alterations may soon have an associated targeted treatment.

Paul G. Richardson, MD, clinical program leader and director of clinical research at the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discussed the phase III ICARIA-MM trial, which looked at the triplet regimen of isatuximab, pomalidomide (Pomalyst), and dexamethasone in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

The investigational KRASG12C inhibitor AMG 510 achieved a 50% response rate in patients with KRASG12C-positive advanced non–small cell lung cancer, according to results from a phase I study presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Daniel P. Petrylak, MD, professor of medicine and urology at Yale Cancer Center, 2017 Giant of Cancer Care in Genitourinary Cancers, discusses the phase II EV-201 trial of enfortumab vedotin in patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer who were previously treated with platinum-based chemotherapy or a PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor.