Author: Editor

Mark Levis, MD, PhD from The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD discusses treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. Although there is still little understanding of the pathogenesis of AML, practitioners do know to target CD19 – a B-cell specific surface protein. Two targeted therapies are currently available in AML therapy, inotuzumab and blinatumomab. Inotuzumab is very indiscriminate while contrastingly blinatumomab, a bi-specific T-cell engager (BiTEs), is very specific. Recorded at the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2016 Annual Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Stephan Grupp, MD, PhD from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA outlines his work at the University of Pennsylvania. Currently his team is investigating the characteristics of T-cells and how they work in treatment, with the hope of answering such questions: Can we predict patients who are going to do well? Can we understand what the requirements are for the collected T-cells? Can we extend this to areas outside of leukemia? Recorded at the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2016 Annual Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Stephan Grupp, MD, PhD from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA discusses his research into pediatric acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL). In a relapsed or refractory setting 93% of the patients entered complete remission (CR) when treated with CTL019, a chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CART). Furthermore, many of these patients were able to stay in remission. Dr Grupp also discussed toxicity associated with these engineered T-cell, specifically cytokine release syndrome. Recorded at the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2016 Annual Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Robin Foà, MD from the Sapienza University, Rome, Italy discusses the advances in the diagnostics and treatment of acute lymphocblastic leukemia (ALL) at the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2016 Annual Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark. Prof. Foà first talks about changes in diagnostics and how biological stratification is becoming more sophisticated. For example, patients should be tested for Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) ALL at presentation and if tested positive, should receive a different therapy with tyrosine kinase inhibitors targeting the specific abnormality. Further, the monitoring of minimal residual disease (MRD) is now guding treatment in clinical trials, which determines decisions such as…

Mark Levis, MD, PhD from The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD discusses a common question that acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients ask on their first visit, how did I get this?. Today there is a much better understanding of AML and often its cause cannot be pinpointed to a patients actions but rather is caused by the natural increase of mutations with age. Recorded at the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2016 Annual Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Robin Foà, MD from the Sapienza University, Rome, Italy discusses the question of how the trials on biosimilars should be run and what needs to be done for biosimilars to get approved. According to Prof. Foà, this is a difficult question and he points out that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has stated that extrapolation is acceptable. He talks about the importance of demonstrating the safety and efficacy of biosimilars and discusses when extrapolation may be acceptable. Prof. Foà further argues that it is unrealistic to repeat all trials. Recorded at the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2016 Annual Congress in…

Klaus Okkenhaug, PhD from Babraham Institute, Cambridge, UK discusses the importance of PI3 kinase, specifically the delta isoform in chronic lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL) and indolent non hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). PI3 kinase delta is selectively expressed in immune cells and is particularly involved in the activation and differentiation of B-cells. It is a target for the drug idelalisib, and works by interfering in the B-cell receptor signalling pathway or signaling downstream of chemokine receptors. However, patients treated with idelalisib have shown adverse effects, commonly colitis. Recorded at the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2016 Annual Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Robin Foà, MD from the Sapienza University, Rome, Italy discusses whether biosimilars may help increase the access to novel drugs. Prof. Foà points out that the saving might be around 30% of the original drug cost, which means that biosimilars would not necessarily make novel drugs accessible everywhere. Biosimilars are a step forward but they will not solve the problem according to Prof. Foà. Recorded at the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2016 Annual Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Mark Levis, MD, PhD from The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD spoke on the lack of evolution in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) at the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2016 Annual Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark. Dr Levis noted that there has not been any major new advances in 40 years. However this may be changing as a Dr Levis then continued on to discuss the RATIFY Phase III trial which Daunorubicin, Cytarabine, and Midostaurin in treating AML patients (NCT006512610).

Peter Hillmen, MD, PhD from St. James’ University Hospital, Leeds, UK discusses the debate ‘Can we cure CLL today?’ held at the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2016 Annual Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark. According to Prof Hillmen, the key question is how to define cure. He also discusses minimal residual disease (MRD) and the difference between measurable and unmeasurbale MRD. Prof Hillmen argues that it is unlikely that many or any patients are being cured at the moment even though some patients may never relapse.

Andrew Davies, MRCP, PhD from University of Southampton, Southampton, UK describes the role and actions of the precision medicine for aggressive lymphoma (PMAL) consortium. Designed to be a collaboration between academia and industry, aims include optimising diagnostic and stratification of patients with diffuse large B-Cell lymphoma (DLBCL). PMAL includes a network of individuals looking at transcriptome technology for use in DLBCL, optimizing signatures, identifying endotypes and mutation screening, among many other areas. Recorded at the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2016 Annual Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Michael Hallek, MD from the University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany gives an overview of the International Workshop on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (iwCLL) meeting, wich will be held in New York City on May 12-15, 2017. According to Prof. Hallek, combinations of new agents will be a hot topic and there will be a debate about prognostic factors in the era of novel agents. For example, the new prognostic score called CLL-IPI will be discussed in the context of novel drugs. Another topic will be the pathogenesis of CLL and how an understanding of the different pathways will provide novel targets.…

Press brief by Christine Chomienne, MD, PhD of the Paris Diderot University, Paris, France, at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the European Association of Hematology (EHA), held in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Press brief by Ernest Turro, PhD of the NHS Blood and Transplant, Cambridge, UK, at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the European Association of Hematology (EHA), held in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Press brief by Nina Toft, MD, PhD of the Rigshospitalet and Herlev Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark, at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the European Association of Hematology (EHA), held in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Press brief by Mette Hazenberg, MD, PhD of the Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands, at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the European Association of Hematology (EHA), held in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Press brief by Amir Fathi, MD of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, on SGN-CD33A combined with hypomethylating therapy, which produces high remission rates among older patients with AML at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the European Association of Hematology (EHA), held in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Press brief by Federica Melazzini, MD of the University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy, at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the European Association of Hematology (EHA), held in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Press brief by Jeffrey Jones, MD, MPH of the The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, on a cross-study analysis of treatment outcomes of 243 patients with 17p del CLL treated with ibrutinib at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the European Association of Hematology (EHA), held in Copenhagen, Denmark.

EHA 2016: Press brief by Anas Younes, MD of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the European Association of Hematology (EHA), held in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Press brief by Daniel Goldstein, MD of the Rabin Medical Center, Petah Tikva, Israel, at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), held in Chicago, IL.

Press brief by Tuya Pal, MD of the Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL, at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), held in Chicago, IL.

Press brief by Ronald Chen, MD, MPH of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, Chapel Hill, NC, at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), held in Chicago, IL.

Press brief by Fabrice Denis, MD, PhD of the Jean Bernard Center, Le Mans, France, at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), held in Chicago, IL.

Press brief by Charles Rudin, MD, PhD of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), held in Chicago, IL.

Press brief by Salah-Eddin Al-Batran, MD of the Krankenhaus Nordwest-University Cancer Center, Frankfurt, Germany, at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), held in Chicago, IL.

Press brief by Arjun Vasant Balar, MD of the NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), held in Chicago, IL.

Press brief by Nikhil Wagle, MD of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), held in Chicago, IL.

Press brief by John Hainsworth, MD of the Sarah Cannon Research Institute, Nashville, TN, at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), held in Chicago, IL.

Ramaswamy Govindan, MD of Washington University Medical School describes the importance to biopsy a growing lesion in lung cancer

Evan Yu, MD of Seattle Cancer Care Alliance notes that some patients saw dramatic improvement in IMvigor210 trial

Petros Grivas, MD of Cleveland Clinic asked the question Are safety and adverse event profile appears similar between early trials in both Anti PD-1 and Anti PD-L1

Ramaswamy Govindan, MD of Washington University Medical School updates research on Small Cell Lung Cancer agents at ASCO 2016

Fadi Braiteh, MD Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada discusses Previous cytotoxin patients thought they were on placebo during atezolizumab trial due to low toxicity side effects

Evan Yu, MD of Seattle Cancer Care Alliance discusses IMvigor210 response rate durability of response and stable disease

Alexander Spira, MD of Virginia Cancer Specialists gives an overview of the POPLAR trial endpoints median duration of response overall survival and the impact of PD-L1 expression

Nathan Pennell, MD of Cleveland Clinic discusses Second line treatment of NSCLC patients before immuno-oncology

Dr. Petros Grivas, MD of Cleveland Clinic mentions that all comers are eligible in second line Atezolizumab

Dr. Ramaswamy Govindan, MD from Washington University Medical School gives an update at ASCO 2016 on MET in NSCLC

Andrew Davies, MRCP, PhD from University of Southampton, Southampton, UK discusses diffuse large B-Cell lymphoma (DLBCL). A study conducted in Denmark looked at patients who had received complete remission (CR) or complete remission unconfirmed (CRU) compared with a matched population. It was shown that patients under 50 had the same overall survival (OS) as the normal population. In patients over 50 there is still gap between DLBCL patients and the normal populations OS. Dr Davies further discusses a randomized Phase III trial examining the effect of early intensification of rituximab (ISRCTN82286322). The results showed that increasing rituximab dose during the…

Press brief by Laura Franco, MD of the University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy, at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the European Association of Hematology (EHA), held in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Rafael Fonseca, MD from the Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ talks about why doctors should use social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter. According to Prof Fonesca, Twitter is a rich source of information and patients as well as many physicians use it. He also shares some tips such as remembering that Twitter is a public space.

Andrew Davies, MRCP, PhD from University of Southampton, Southampton, UK discusses the pooled analysis of NCT01236391, NCT01599949 and NCT01646021 trials which all analysed at the outcome of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) patients treated with ibrutinib. Overall, there were 370 patients with a complete remission (CR) of 20% and an overall response rate (ORR) of 66%. In patients who achieved CR over 90% were still alive after 2 years. Recorded at the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2016 Annual Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Press brief by Klaus Metzeler, MD of the Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany, at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the European Association of Hematology (EHA), held in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Andrew Davies, MRCP, PhD from University of Southampton, Southampton, UK gives an overview of the subjects discussed during the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2016 Annual Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark. Subjects include PI 3-Kinase and BTK inhibition, as well as looking into high risk features of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and non-hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Dr Davies also discusses how practitioners are moving away from clinical parameters such as the follicular lymphoma international prognostic index (FLIPI), and now identifying high-risk patients using a M7-FLIPI. This is a combination of FLIPI performance status and the mutation status of 7 genes, which is a…

Press brief by Max Topp, MD of the University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany, at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the European Association of Hematology (EHA), held in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Andrew Davies, MRCP, PhD from University of Southampton, Southampton, UK stresses the importance of educating patients about adverse effects of therapy. For example diarrhea and colitis can occur long after treatment, a median of 8 months according to Dr Davies. Recorded at the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2016 Annual Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Press brief by Meletios Dimopoulos, MD of the University of Athens, Athens, Greece, at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the European Association of Hematology (EHA), held in Copenhagen, Denmark.

” Andrew Davies, MRCP, PhD from University of Southampton, Southampton, UK discusses his participation in the joint symposia regarding high risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and follicular lymphoma, and the use of idelalisib in treatment. Dr Davies outlines his participation in a phase II trial to assess the efficacy and safety of idelalisib in subjects with indolent B-Cell non-hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) refractory to alkylating agents and to rituximab (NCT01282424) Results showed an overall response rate of 56%, and a median progression free survival of over 11 months. According to Dr Davies idelalisib gives a clear option for patients whose disease…

Press brief by Andreas Engert, MD of the University Hospital of Cologne, Cologne, Germany, at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the European Association of Hematology (EHA), held in Copenhagen, Denmark.