From Conference to Practice: Top 5 Takeaways From EHA 2026

The future of hematologic oncology was recently unveiled in Stockholm, Sweden.

As part of the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2026 Congress, experts from all over the world convened to share key clinical trial updates and investigational research that may help advance the care of different patient populations with multiple myeloma, leukemia, lymphoma, and other hematologic malignancies. From autologous Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)–specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte therapy to fixed-duration combination regimens, the congress shed light on novel therapeutic strategies that may elevate the quality of care for patients.

CancerNetwork^® covered the latest data to emerge from the meeting. Here are the top 5 articles on the developments that may move the needle in hematologic oncology care.

#1: Talquetamab Plus Daratumumab Improves PFS in Relapsed/Refractory Myeloma

Adding talquetamab-tgvs (Talvey) to daratumumab (Darzalex), with or without pomalidomide (Pomalyst), significantly improved PFS vs daratumumab, pomalidomide, and dexamethasone (DPd) among those with previously treated relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma in the phase 3 MonumenTAL-3 trial (NCT05455320).^1,2

Compared with DPd, talquetamab plus daratumumab and pomalidomide reduced the risk of progression or death by 72% (HR, 0.28; 95% CI, 0.20-0.40; P <.0001); this risk decreased by 67% with talquetamab/daratumumab alone (HR, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.24-0.46; P <.0001). The ORR was also higher with the talquetamab triplet (88.2%) and doublet (88.5%) vs DPd (77.6%).

Overall, the data “support talquetamab with daratumumab, with or without pomalidomide, as a new standard of care for patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma as early as first relapse,” according to study investigator Peter M. Voorhees, MD, of Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute of Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Charlotte, North Carolina.

#2: Fixed-Duration Epcoritamab Combo Shows Superiority in Follicular Lymphoma

In a subgroup analysis of the phase 3 EPCORE FL-1 trial (NCT05409066), fixed-duration epcoritamab-bysp (Epkinly) plus lenalidomide (Revlimid) and rituximab (Rituxan) improved outcomes vs lenalidomide/rituximab among different groups of patients with previously treated relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma.³

In the experimental and control arms, respectively, the ORR was 95% vs 79%; PFS outcomes also improved with the investigational regimen (HR, 0.21; 95% CI, 0.14-0.31). Combining epcoritamab with lenalidomide and rituximab also extended efficacy benefits to patients regardless of age, prior lines of therapy, and Follicular Lymphoma International Prognostic Index (FLIPI) score.

“Fixed-duration epcoritamab plus [lenalidomide and rituximab] was superior to [lenalidomide and rituximab alone] in the EPCORE FL-1 study [among] patients with follicular lymphoma in the [second-line setting or later],” Benoit Tessoulin, MD, PhD, of the Nantes University School of Medicine and University Hospital, as well as a member of the European Mantle Cell Lymphoma Network, said about these findings.

#3: Tisa-Cel Yields Enduring Remissions in Younger High-Risk B-ALL Population

Findings from the phase 2 CASSIOPEIA/COG AALL1721 trial (NCT03876769) highlighted a potential strategy for pediatric and young adult patients with high-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) and minimal residual disease (MRD) following frontline consolidation therapy, as tisagenlecleucel (tisa-cel; Kymriah) demonstrated enduring remissions and overall survival (OS) benefits.⁴

At 4 years, the OS rate was 85% (95% CI, 76%-90%), fulfilling the trial’s primary end point of an OS rate exceeding 80% with a lower CI bound of more than 65%. At the time of the analysis, 6 patients with early B-cell recovery had sustained an ongoing complete remission (CR) without any new anticancer therapy, although 3 underwent reinfusion with tisa-cel.

“In summary, durable remissions were achieved with tisa-cel in patients with very high-risk B-ALL who were MRD positive at the end of consolidation, and this was achieved with very low rates of cytokine release syndrome [CRS] and immune effector cell–associated neurotoxicity syndrome [ICANS]. Future work needs to focus on what the risk of relapse and shorter persistence [is] in this population and frontline therapy to determine if other therapy is needed,” study investigator Shannon L. Maude, MD, PhD, an attending physician in the Cancer Center at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, stated in a presentation of these data.

#4: VT-EBV-N Yields Durable Disease-Free Survival in Pretreated ENKTL

Compared with standard plasma blood mononuclear cell (PBMC), the novel agent VT-EBV-N produced durable disease-free survival (DFS) among patients with EBV-positive extranodal natural killer (NK)/T-cell lymphoma (ENKTL) in a phase 2 trial (NCT03671850).⁵

The 2-year DFS rates were 95.0% (95% CI, 69.5%-99.3%) with VT-EBV-N vs 77.6% (95% CI, 54.2%-90.0%) with PBMC; the respective 4-year rates were 95.0% (95% CI, 69.5%-99.3%) and 56.3% (95% CI, 31.0%-75.4%). OS data also favored the investigational therapy vs PBMC, with rates of 100% (95% CI, not evaluable [NE]-NE) vs 88.0% (95% CI, 67.3%-96.0%) at 2 years and 100% (95% CI, NE-NE) vs 83.8% (95% CI, 62.4%-93.6%) at 4 years.

Study investigator Deok-Hwan Yang, MD, PhD, researcher in the Department of Hemato-Oncology at Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital in Gwangju, South Korea, said that these results showed “robust evidence supporting VT-EBV-N as an effective consolidation strategy for relapse prevention” in this ENKTL population.

#5: Quadruplet Combo Appears Effective in High-Risk Smoldering Multiple Myeloma

A potential advance in the high-risk smoldering multiple myeloma space came with the phase 2 ASCENT trial (NCT03289299), which showed that combining carfilzomib (Kyprolis), lenalidomide, daratumumab, and dexamethasone (DKRd) may be effective among patients.⁶

The overall response rate (ORR) with the combination was 98%, which included very good partial responses (VGPRs) or better in 94%. MRD-negative rates also increased from 8.1% at the end of induction therapy to 30.2% at the end of consolidation as well as 47.7% at the end of maintenance and 34.9% at 1 year after treatment. The median progression-free survival (PFS) was not reached at the time of analysis, and the 3-year PFS rate was 89.9% (95% CI, 82.3%-98.3%).

“The quadruplet regimen is quite effective in this high-risk smoldering myeloma [population]. This is a limited-duration therapy with a quadruplet without using autologous stem cell transplant, and the toxicities that we saw were quite similar to what we have seen with this regimen in patients with newly diagnosed myeloma,” study investigator Shaji Kumar, MD, consultant in the Division of Hematology and Department of Internal Medicine Research, and chair in the Division of Hematology and Department of Internal Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said regarding these results.

References

1. Voorhees PM, Mina R, Rodríguez-Otero P, et al. Phase 3, randomized study of talquetamab plus daratumumab ± pomalidomide vs daratumumab plus pomalidomide and dexamethasone in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma: MonumenTAL-3. Presented at European Hematology Association 2026 Congress; June 11-14, 2026; Stockholm, Sweden. Abstract S100.
2. Mina R, Beksac M, Rodríguez-Otero P, et al. Talquetamab–daratumumab in relapsed or refractory myeloma. N Engl J Med. Published online June 13, 2026. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2604657
3. Nijland M, Falchi L, Linton K, et al. Clinically relevant subgroup analysis from the randomized phase 3 EPCORE FL-1 trial: treatment (tx) effect of epcoritamab with lenalidomide and rituximab (R²) IN R/R follicular lymphoma (FL). Presented at European Hematology Association 2026 Congress; June 11-14, 2026; Stockholm, Sweden. Abstract S229.
4. Maude SL, Rives S, Krueger J, et al. Tisagenlecleucel in pediatric and young adult patients with high-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and minimal residual disease at the end of frontline consolidation. Presented at European Hematology Association 2026 Congress; June 11-14, 2026; Stockholm, Sweden. Abstract S135.
5. Jeon Y, Cho SG, Yang DH. VT-EBV-N as post-remission therapy significantly improves disease-free survival in EBV-positive extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma: a randomized, double-blind phase 2 trial. Presented at European Hematology Association 2026 Congress; June 11-14, 2026; Stockholm, Sweden. Abstract S245.
6. Kumar S, Laplant B, Badros A, et al. Aggressive smoldering curative approach evaluating novel therapies (ASCENT): a phase 2 trial of induction, consolidation, and maintenance in high-risk smoldering multiple myeloma. Presented at European Hematology Association 2026 Congress; June 11-14, 2026; Stockholm, Sweden. Abstract S207.