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Data from an on-going early stage phase I/II trial of daratumumab in multiple myeloma continues to show promising activity. The dose-escalation study has shown that higher doses of daratumumab alone can reduce both bone marrow plasma cells as well as paraprotein.
Today we speak with Steven T. Rosen, MD, about a couple of the projects he and his group are working on, repurposing old drugs for the treatment of multiple myeloma, that will be presented this year at ASH.
Final results of a cohort from a phase II monotherapy trial of quizartinib in acute myeloid leukemia patients showed that more than half of patients 60 years of age and older who harbored an internal tandem duplication in the FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 had a composite complete remission.
Results of the phase III SWOG S0016 trial comparing 2 chemotherapy regimens for follicular lymphoma (FL), presented this week at ASH, show no statistically significant differences in either progression-free survival (PFS) or overall survival. Both regimens produced “excellent” results, according to the presenter.
The phase III randomized RESORT (ECOG Protocol E4402) trial asked whether a maintenance schedule of rituximab every 3 months would lead to a superior disease control outcome compared to retreatment upon progression. The answer, presented this week at ASH, is no.
Updated findings from a multicenter phase Ib/II clinical trial suggest that the novel Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor PCI-32765 may be an important new targeted treatment approach for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Researchers presented a late-breaking abstract reporting activity in a metastatic lymphoma mouse model of two monoclonal antibodies combined with CpG, a short synthetic oligonucleotide agonist of TLR9, that mimic bacterial and viral DNA and facilitates a pro-inflammatory immune response.
Romiplostim, a synthetic protein that binds to and stimulates the thrombopoietin receptor, induced a rapid platelet response in adult patients with primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) and maintained a consistent safety profile in an international phase III trial.
The first plenary session at this year’s ASH was kicked off by the presentation of a study that showed that when stem cells come from donors unrelated to the patient there is no difference in patient survival between the use of cells sourced from peripheral blood or bone marrow.
The phase III trial comparing the use of gemtuzumab ozogamicin combined with chemotherapy to chemotherapy alone in newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients provides evidence that the combination treatment may be promising in this patient population.
Obinutuzumab (GA101) achieved higher response rates than rituximab in the first head-to-head trial of the two biologic agents in patients with relapsed non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Encouraging findings were reported from multiple studies of ibritumomab tiuxetan (Zevalin), a CD20-directed radiotherapeutic antibody, in diverse patient groups with follicular lymphoma.
Andrew Evens, DO, MSc, deputy director for clinical and translational research and medical director of the Clinical Research Office at the UMass Memorial Health Care Cancer Center of Excellence, talks about his research on lymphoma during pregnancy.
CancerNetwork highlights four sessions--on anaplastic large cell lymphoma, lymphoma in pregnancy, follicular lymphoma, splenic marginal zone lymphoma--you won’t want to miss from this year’s ASH.
Ofatumumab (Arzerra) demonstrated clinical benefit was superior to historic outcomes with salvage therapies in this setting, according to lead investigator William G. Wierda, MD, PhD. After about 26 months of median follow-up, progression-free survival and overall survival improved in fludarabine-refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia and in fludarabine-refractory CLL with bulky lymph nodes.
Phase II study results are encouraging because this patient population generally sees a median of five prior lines of therapy including transplants, explained Jeffrey M. Besterman, MD, PhD, executive vice president and chief scientific officer for MethylGene, the developer of mocetinostat (MGCD0103).
Experimental drugs from ImmunoGen, Seattle Genetics, and S*BIO advance therapeutic options in multiple myeloma, anaplastic large-cell lymphoma, and relapsed lymphoma.
At a median follow-up of 36 months, multiple survival rates were nearly perfect at 99%. The leader of the Italian study called the low number of treatment failures reassuring news as to the durability of nilotinib response at three years post-therapy
The median reductions in Bcr-Abl transcripts at one year were greater with dasatinib (Sprycel) than with imatinib (Gleevec), according to the results of an intergroup phase II trial. A better molecular response should eventually correlate with better outcomes, making dasatinib a serious contender for upfront therapy in CML.
The likelihood of patients achieving complete cytogenetic response at any time was 1.5 times higher with dasatinib (Sprycel) than with imatinib (Gleevec), according to an investigator with the DASISION trial.
Study leader Kirit M. Ardeshna, MD, tells Oncology NEWS International that he predicts this pretreatment approach will become the standard of care and will prove attractive to patients because chemotherapy can be deferred for even longer than it can now. But participants at an ASH 2010 plenary session questioned aspects of the trial design.
Nplate sustains platelet counts in patients with adult chronic immune (idiopathic) thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) while single-dose Zevalin offers survival advantage in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
The intensified regimen of BEACOPP plus standard therapy ABVD plus radiotherapy bested four cycles of ABVD alone, leading to a significant improvement in tumor control. Final results from the German Hodgkin Study Group trial saw a 7% improvement in terms of freedom from treatment failure between the standard and new treatment arms.
The 24-month follow-up data from the ENESTnd trial showed that patients treated with nilotinib (Tasigna) had significantly better response rates and significantly lower rates of progression to accelerated phase or blast crisis when on treatment
Patients in a major UK/US trial who received imatinib had improved overall survival, event-free survival, and relapse-free survival at three years of follow-up compared with patients who did not receive any imatinib.
CAL-101 and GA101 demonstrate active results in indolent B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia while a secondary analysis of a pralatrexate (Folotyn) trial shows a benefit for peripheral T-cell lymphoma patients who fail second-line therapy.
The saying that “knowledge is power” holds especially true when it comes to a lymphoma diagnosis, and there are best practices for clinicians who want to fully educate their patients. Presentations at ASH 2010 offer data and advice on how to approach—and improve—education efforts among clinicians and patients.
NEW ORLEANS-More is better, at least when it comes to treatments for multiple myeloma. Separate studies from a Spanish group and an Italian group showed that up-front use of four drugs improves durable responses and progression-free survival in elderly patients. Both studies also showed that a kinder, gentler weekly schedule of bortezomib (Velcade) instead of the standard twice-weekly schedule maintains efficacy and reduces toxicity.
NEW ORLEANS-A new treatment for patients who are severely debilitated by myelofibrosis offers hope of a return to normal daily life. Preliminary studies with an oral drug INCB018424 that targets the Janus-activated kinase (JAK) 2 gene appears to markedly reduce the swelling of the spleen and sometimes the liver, which can, in turn, can change patients’ quality of life.
NEW ORLEANS-There was good news at ASH 2009 on promising treatments for indolent lymphoma and aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Also, a separate poster presentation showed that even just one cycle of post-remission therapy extended survival in elderly patients with acute myeloid leukemia.
