18th European Haematology Association (EHA) Congress

Prof Jesus San Miguel talks with ecancer at the 18th EHA Congress about the MM-003 trial. MM-003 is a large, multi-centre phase III study that assessed the efficacy and safety of a new drug, pomalidomide (POM) in combination with low-dose dexamethasone (POM LoDex) and compared this combination with high dose dexamethasone in MM patients with late stage disease which have previously failed lenalidomide and bortezomib.

Prof Alessandro Vannucchi talks to ecancer at the 18th EHA Congress in Stockholm about a phase III clinical trial that examined the outcomes of treating myelogibrosis with ruxolitinib and the best available therapy.

Dr Valentin Goede presented promising outcomes for elderly CLL patients at the 18th Congress of the European Hematology Association in Stockholm. CLL is the most common leukaemia in the western world. Many CLL patients are elderly and have comorbidities rendering them ineligible for aggressive standard treatments. It has been an unresolved question whether (i) combination treatment with the chemotherapeutic drug chlorambucil plus a monoclonal CD20 antibody improves outcomes for such patients compared to treatment with chlorambucil alone and (ii) these patients benefit from the use of the novel CD20 antibody obinutuzumab (GA101) relative to the approved CD20 antibody rituximab.

President of the European Haematology Association talks to ecancer at the 18th EHA Congress about developments arising from this years meeting. Prof Jäger discusses education at the meeting, research developments and on going clinical trials. He also covers the research he presented at the meeting: A multicenter, randomized phase III study of rituximab as maintenance treatment versus observation alone in patients with aggressive b-cell lymphoma: the AGMT NHL13 trial

Dr Dalia Mahmoud talks to ecancer at the 18th EHA Congress about treating acute myeloid leukaemia, availability of azacytidine and the challenges of treating in Europe and the US.

Prof Heinrich Lokhorst talks to ecancer at EHA 18 about results from a phase I/II study in advanced Multiple Myeloma. Multiple myeloma is the second most common haematological cancer. It is a cancer of the plasma cells and it accounts for approx. 1% of all cancers. At present, no cure is available. The 5-year relative survival rate for multiple myeloma is around 40% so there is a strong need for new treatment modalities to improve the survival. Daratumumab is a human CD38 monoclonal antibody being tested against multiple myeloma, but it could also have potential in a broad range of other hematological diseases.

Dr Annamaria Brioli talks to ecancer at the 18th EHA Congress in Stockholm, Sweden about two studies that examine the use of cyclophosphamide lenalidomide and dexamethasone in myeloma. The first study analysed toxicity and the second looked at primary malignancy.

Prof Anton Hagenbeek talks to ecancer at the patient advocacy track, availability of drugs, communication with pharmaceutical companies and general patient care.

Prof Meletios Dimopoulos talks to ecancer at the 18th EHA Congress in Stockholm, Sweden about second generation drugs for second line treatment of multiple myeloma. Prof Dimopolulos presented data from the MMO15 trial which investigated melphalan prednisone and melphalan prednisone in combination with lenalidomide.

Dr Partow Kebriaei talks to ecancer at the 18th EHA Congress about her abstract on artificial antigen presenting cells that generate T cells expressing CD19-specific chimeric antigen receptor in order to prevent relapse in lymphoid malignancies.

Dr Evan Sadler talks to ecancer at the 18th EHA Congress to discuss diseases associated with Von Willebrand Factor and ADAMTS13, a protein circulating in the blood that prevents bleeding by collecting platelets.

Dr Ruben Niesvizky talks to ecancer at the 18th EHA Congress about managment of patients with relapsed or progressive multiple myeloma, including major advances in bring a new agents to the frontline such as immunomodulators, melphalanprednisone, and lenalidomide.

Prof Pieter Sonneveld talks to ecancer at the 18th EHA Congress in Stockholm, Sweden about the issues with ageing in blood related cancers. Prof Sonneveld highlights several issues with aging in blood disorders and at a higher age people are more likely to get blood cancers. Patients with already with disorders are more likely to develope additional issues.

Dr Elena Zamagni talks to ecancer about autologous stem cell transplant at the 18th EHA Congress in Stockholm, Sweden. Dr Zamagni highlights the relationship between increasing chemotherapy after transplantation and increasing progression free and overall survival from two clinical trials.

Dr Ross Levine presented results from a study on targeting the JAK-STAT pathway in myeloproliferative neoplasms at the EHA 2013. Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) are clonal blood disorders characterised by excessive production of mature blood cells. The identification of somatic mutations in JAK2, MPL and LNK in the majority of MPN patients led to the development of JAK kinase inhibitors. JAK1/2 inhibitors improve splenomegaly and systemic symptoms, however the mechanism by which this occurs in patients has not been elucidated.

Prof Philippe Moreau talks to ecancer at the 18th EHA Congress about the results of a phase I/II trial that tested carfilzomib plus melphalanprednisone in elderly patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.