Armin Ghobadi, MD, Discusses Trials Needed to Build on Blinatumomab Pilot Study Data

In an interview with CancerNetwork®, Armin Ghobadi, MD, of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, detailed the next steps needed to build on the results from a study (abstract #1450) of blinatumomab (Blincyto) presented at the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition.

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I think the result of [the abstract #1450 are] promising. That means we have to do more investigation. Still, 4 patients obviously relapsed later on, but we have ideas in terms of designing the next larger trial using T-cell engagers as consolidation after BEAM [carmustine, etoposide, cytarabine, and melphalan] autologous stem cell transplantation. I think this pilot trial shows that this is a promising strategy. We have to refine it and do it in a larger study—hopefully in a randomized fashion—to show that [by] using such a strategy, we can cure more patients. And hopefully more patients are going to be in a disease-free survival status later on after BEAM autologous transplant.