Podcasts about ash annual meeting

In this podcast episode, Jeremy S. Abramson, MD, MMSc, reviews data from select presentations in lymphomas at the ASH 2025 Annual Meeting and provides perspectives on the clinical implications of these data for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), follicular lymphoma (FL), and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), including:CLL17: randomized phase III trial of continuous ibrutinib vs fixed-duration venetoclax plus obinutuzumab or venetoclax plus ibrutinib for untreatedCLL BRUIN CLL-313: randomized phase III trial of pirtobrutinib vs BR for previously untreated patients with CLLBRUIN CLL-314: pirtobrutinib vs ibrutinib in treatment-naive and BTKi-naive R/R CLL/SLL EPCORE-FL-1: randomized phase III trial of epcoritamab with rituximab and lenalidomide vs rituximab and lenalidomide for R/R FLSTARGLO: 3-year follow-up data from the randomized phase III trial of glofitamab plus GemOx vs rituximab plus GemOx for patients with R/R DLBCLPresenter: Jeremy S. Abramson, MD, MMScProfessor of MedicineHarvard Medical SchoolDirector, Center for LymphomaMass General Brigham Cancer InsBoston, MassachusettsContent based on an online CME program supported by educational grants from AstraZeneca, BeOne Medicines, Genentech, Geron Corporation, Incyte, Johnson & Johnson, Lilly, and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation.Link to full program:https://bit.ly/4aqMobZ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In deze podcast spreekt internist-hematoloog Jurjen Versluis met internist-hematoloog Inger Nijhof, werkzaam in het St. Antonius Ziekenhuis, over de laatste ontwikkelingen op het gebied van multipel myeloom die werden gepresenteerd tijdens de 67e ASH Annual Meeting.

In this episode, Hanny Al-Samkari, MD, gives his thoughts on 5 key presentations from ASH 2025, and provides perspectives on the clinical implications of these data for patients with nonmalignant hematologic disorders such as ITP and vWD, including: LBA-2: Primary results from VAYHIT2, a randomized, double-blind, phase III trial of ianalumab plus eltrombopag vs placebo plus eltrombopag in patients with primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) who failed first-line corticosteroid treatmentAbstract 844: Secondary analysis results from VAYHIT3, a phase II study of ianalumab in patients with primary immune thrombocytopenia previously treated with at least 2 lines of therapyAbstract 5: Deciphering the dilemma: intravenous (IV) iron use in iron deficiency anemia during acute infectionsAbstract 308: Subcutaneous, every-4-week maintenance dosing of a novel protein S antibody is well tolerated and substantially reduces bleeding rates: results from a phase I/II multidose study of VGA039 in patients with von Willebrand diseaseAbstract 841: Immune thrombocytopenia in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitorsPresenter:Hanny Al-Samkari, MDThe Peggy S. Blitz Endowed Chair in Hematology/OncologyCo-Director, Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia Center of ExcellenceMassachusetts General HospitalAssociate Professor of MedicineHarvard Medical SchoolBoston, MassachusettsContent based on an online CME program supported by educational grants from AstraZeneca, BeOne Medicines, Genentech, Geron Corporation, Incyte, Johnson & Johnson, Lilly, and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation.Link to full program:https://bit.ly/48Ye45N Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Two Onc Docs, hosted by Samantha A. Armstrong, MD, and Karine Tawagi, MD, is a podcast dedicated to providing current and future oncologists and hematologists with the knowledge they need to ace their boards and deliver quality patient care. Dr Armstrong is a hematologist/oncologist and assistant professor of clinical medicine at Indiana University Health in Indianapolis. Dr Tawagi is a hematologist/oncologist and assistant professor of clinical medicine at the University of Illinois in Chicago. In this episode, OncLive On Air® partnered with Two Onc Docs to highlight chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) updates from the 2025 ASH Annual Meeting. Drs Armstrong and Tawagi noted that CLL is typically diagnosed in asymptomatic, elderly individuals presenting with lymphocytosis. A definitive diagnosis is established by confirming the clonality of circulating B lymphocytes via immunoglobulin light chain restriction on flow cytometry, they explained. Treatment initiation is reserved for active disease, which is indicated by B symptoms, progressive cytopenias, threatened organ function, or bulky disease such as splenomegaly, they said. They continued by reporting several prognostic features that denote poor outcomes. Current standard frontline regimens use covalent BTK inhibitors or time-limited targeted regimens that include venetoclax (Venclexta), often combined with an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, according to the experts. They added that TKI-based therapy is preferred for patients with high-risk features. The phase 3 BRUIN CLL-313 trial (NCT05023980) investigated pirtobrutinib (Jaypirca), a highly selective noncovalent BTK inhibitor, compared with bendamustine and rituximab (BR) in patients with treatment-naive CLL. The trial showed a significant improvement in progression-free survival with pirtobrutinib vs BR. Pirtobrutinib was also associated with a favorable safety profile, with modest rates of class-associated toxicities, including all-grade bleeding, arthralgia, and atrial fibrillation. Although pirtobrutinib showed superior efficacy in BRUIN CLL-313, the clinical interpretation of these data is complicated because BR is an outdated control arm compared with contemporary frontline standards, Armstrong and Tawagi emphasized. Furthermore, the requirement for indefinite therapy with BTK inhibitors is a sequencing challenge, particularly as pirtobrutinib is currently approved in the post-covalent BTK inhibitor setting, they continued. However, its favorable toxicity profile suggests potential utility in elderly patients with pre-existing cardiovascular comorbidities, they noted. Future studies are focused on comparing pirtobrutinib vs time-limited venetoclax and evaluating various triplet regimens, they concluded.

In this podcast episode, Amir T. Fathi, MD, reviews data from select presentations in leukemias at the ASH 2025 Annual Meeting, and provides perspectives on the clinical implications of these data for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), including:Abstract 6: Phase II PARADIGM trial of azacitidine and venetoclax vs conventional intensive chemotherapy for fit patients with newly diagnosed AMLAbstract 47: Phase I/II SAVE trial of revumenib plus decitabine/cedazuridine and venetoclax in the cohort of patients with newly diagnosed AMLAbstract 766: Phase Ib KOMET-007 trial of ziftomenib in combination with venetoclax and azacitidine in newly diagnosed NPM1-mutant AMLAbstract 654: Phase I/II VICEROY trial of venetoclax and azacitidine + gilteritinib in patients with newly diagnosed FLT3-mutated AML ineligible for intensive induction chemotherapyAbstract 903: 3-Yr Update of the phase II FASCINATION trial of asciminib and conventional BCR::ABL1 inhibitors in newly diagnosed CMLAbstract 906: Phase II ASC2ESCALATE trial of asciminib in patients with chronic-phase CML after 1 prior TKIPresenter:Amir T. Fathi, MDDirector, Leukemia ProgramMassachusetts General HospitalAssociate Professor of MedicineHarvard Medical SchoolBoston, MassachusettsContent based on an online CME program supported by educational grants from AstraZeneca, BeOne Medicines, Genentech, Geron Corporation, Incyte, Johnson & Johnson, Lilly, and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation.Link to full program:https://bit.ly/48Ye45N Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

JCO Editor-in-Chief Dr. Jonathan Friedberg is joined by colleagues Dr. Jennifer Woyach, Dr. Wojciech Jurczak, and Dr. Matthew Davids to discuss simultaneous publications presented at ASH 2025 on pertibrutinib, a new upfront treatment option for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. TRANSCRIPT The disclosures for guests on this podcast can be found in the show notes. Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: I'm Jonathan Friedberg, editor of Journal of Clinical Oncology, and welcome to JCO After Hours, where we are covering two manuscripts that were presented at the American Society of Hematology meeting 2025 in Orlando, Florida. I am delighted to be joined by colleagues on this call to discuss these pivotal manuscripts which cover the topic of pirtobrutinib, a new upfront treatment option for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. I will first just introduce our guests, Dr. Woyach. Dr. Jennifer Woyach: Hi, my name is Jennifer Woyach. I am from the Ohio State University. Dr. Wojciech Jurczak: Hello, I am Wojciech Jurczak, working at the National Research Institute of Oncology in Krakow, Poland. Dr. Matthew Davids: Hi, I am Matthew Davids from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: We are going to start by just learning a little bit about these two trials that were both large, randomized phase 3 studies that I think answered some definitive questions. We will start with your study, Jennifer. If you could just describe the design of your study and the patient population. Dr. Jennifer Woyach: Absolutely. So this is the BRUIN CLL-314 study, and this is a phase 3 randomized trial of pirtobrutinib versus ibrutinib in patients with CLL or SLL who had not previously been treated with a covalent BTK inhibitor. The patients were both treatment-naive and relapsed/refractory, about one-third of the patients treatment-naive, the rest relapsed/refractory, and they were stratified based upon 17p deletion and the number of prior lines of therapy. The primary objective was looking at non-inferiority of overall response rate over the entire treated population as well as the relapsed/refractory patient population. Key secondary objectives included progression-free survival in the intention-to-treat and the smaller relapsed/refractory and treatment-naive populations. Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: And just comment a little bit on the risk of the patients. Dr. Jennifer Woyach: This study was fairly typical of this cohort of patients. Within the relapsed/refractory patient population, there was a median of one prior line of therapy in each of the groups, up to nine prior lines of therapy in the patients included on the study. For the overall cohort, about two-thirds of the patients were IGHV unmutated, about 15% had 17p deletion, 30% had TP53 mutations, and about 35% to 40% had a complex karyotype, which is three or more abnormalities. Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: And what were your findings? Dr. Jennifer Woyach: Regarding the primary outcome, which is the focus of the publication, we did find that pirtobrutinib was indeed non-inferior and actually superior to ibrutinib for overall response rate throughout the entire patient population and in both the relapsed/refractory and treatment-naive cohorts. PFS is a little bit immature at this time but is trending towards also being significantly better in pirtobrutinib-treated patients compared with ibrutinib-treated patients. Probably most significantly, we found this to be the case in the treatment-naive cohort where there was a striking trend to an advantage of pirtobrutinib versus ibrutinib. Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: And the follow-up that you have on that progression-free survival? Dr. Jennifer Woyach: So we have about 18 months follow-up on progression-free survival. Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: The second study, Wojciech, can you just go through the design and patient population that you treated? Dr. Wojciech Jurczak: Thank you, Dr. Friedberg, for this question. So the BRUIN CLL-313 study was, in fact, the first phase 3 study with pirtobrutinib in exclusively untreated CLL patients. It was a randomized study where we challenged pirtobrutinib versus bendamustine-rituximab. At the time we designed the protocol, bendamustine-rituximab was an option as a standard of care, and Bruton tyrosine kinase monotherapy was used far more commonly than nowadays. The primary target of the study was progression-free survival. We took all untreated patients except for those with 17p deletions. Therefore, it is a good representation for intermediate risk. We had about 60% of the population, 56 to be precise, which was unmutated, evenly distributed into two treatment arms. 17p deleted cases were excluded, but we had about 7% and 8% of TP53 mutated patients as well as about 11% and 7%, respectively, in the pirtobrutinib and bendamustine-rituximab arm of patients with complex karyotype. The progression-free survival was in favor of pirtobrutinib and was assessed by an independent review committee. What is important is that the progression-free survival of the bendamustine-rituximab arm was actually similar to the other studies addressing the same questions, like the comparison with ibrutinib in the ALLIANCE study or zanubrutinib in the SEQUOIA study. What was different was the hazard ratio. In our study, it was 0.20. It was one of the longest effect sizes noted in the frontline BTK study. It represented an 80% reduction in progression-free survival or death. If we compare it to ibrutinib or zanubrutinib, it was 0.39 and 0.42 respectively. Presumably, this great effect contributed towards a trend of overall survival difference. Although survival data are not mature enough, there is a clear trend represented by three patients we lost in the pirtobrutinib arm versus 10 patients lost in the bendamustine-rituximab arm. This trend in overall survival is becoming statistically significant despite the fact that there was a possibility of crossover, and effectively 52.9 patients, which means 18 out of 34 patients relapsing in the bendamustine-rituximab arm, were treated by pirtobrutinib. Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: I am going to turn it over to Matt. The question is: why study pirtobrutinib in this patient population? And then with these two studies, how do you find the patients that were treated, are they representative of people who you see? And do you see this maybe being approved and more widely available? Dr. Matthew Davids: I think in terms of the first question, why study this in a frontline population, we have seen very impressive data with pirtobrutinib in a very difficult-to-treat population of CLL patients. This was from the original BRUIN phase 1/2 study where most of the patients had at least two or three lines of therapy, often both a covalent BTK inhibitor and the BCL2 inhibitor venetoclax, and yet they were still responding to pirtobrutinib. The drug was also very well tolerated in that early phase experience. And actually, we have seen phase 3 data from the BRUIN 321 study comparing pirtobrutinib to bendamustine and rituximab in a relapse population as well. So I think that really motivated these studies to look at pirtobrutinib as a first therapy. You know, often in other cancers of course, we want to use our best therapy first, and I think these studies are an initial step at looking at that. In terms of the second question around the patient population, these are pretty representative patient populations, I would say, for most frontline CLL studies. We see patients who are a bit younger and fitter than sort of the general population of CLL patients who are treated in clinical practice, and I think that is true here as well. Median age in the sort of mid-60s here is a bit younger than the typical patients we are treating in practice. But that is not different from other CLL frontline studies that we have seen recently, so I think it makes it a little bit easier as we kind of think across studies to feel comfortable that these are relatively similar populations. Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: How do you see this either getting regulatory approval or potentially being used compared to current standard of care options? Dr. Matthew Davids: So my understanding is that both of these trials were designed with registrational intent in the frontline setting, and they are both positive studies. That is certainly very encouraging in terms of the potential for an approval here. We have seen in terms of the FDA recently some concerns around the proportion of patients who are coming from North America, and my understanding is that is relatively low on these two studies. But nonetheless, the datasets are very impressive, and so I think it is certainly supportive of regulatory approval for frontline pirtobrutinib. Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: I will ask Jennifer a question. The control arm in your study was ibrutinib, and I think many in the audience may recognize that newer, second-generation BTK inhibitors like acalabrutinib and zanubrutinib are more frequently used now if monotherapy is decided. How do you respond to that, and how would you put your results in your pirtobrutinib arm in context with what has been observed with those agents? Dr. Jennifer Woyach: Yeah, that is a great question. Even though in the United States we are predominantly using acalabrutinib or zanubrutinib when choosing a monotherapy BTK inhibitor, this is actually not the case throughout the entire world where ibrutinib is still used very frequently. The head-to-head studies of both acalabrutinib and zanubrutinib compared to ibrutinib have shown us pretty well what the safety profile and efficacy profile of the second-generation BTK inhibitors is. So even though we do not have a head-to-head study of acalabrutinib or zanubrutinib versus pirtobrutinib, I think, given the entirety of data that we have with all of the covalent BTK inhibitors, I think we can safely look at the pirtobrutinib arm here, how the ibrutinib arm compares or performs in context with those other clinical trials. And though we really can not say anything about pirtobrutinib versus acalabrutinib or zanubrutinib, I think we can still get a good idea of what might be the clinical scenarios in which you might want to choose pirtobrutinib. Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: And Wojciech, do you agree with that? Obviously, I think you have acknowledged that chemoimmunotherapy is rarely used anymore as part of upfront treatment for CLL. So, I guess a similar question. If you were to put the pirtobrutinib result in your study in context with, I guess, more contemporary type controls, would you agree that it is competitive? Dr. Wojciech Jurczak: Well, I think that that was the last study ever where bendamustine-rituximab was used as a comparator arm. So we should notice that smashing difference. Because if we look at the progression-free survival at two years, we have 93.4% in pirtobrutinib arm versus 70.7% in bendamustine-rituximab arm. Bendamustine-rituximab arm did the same as in the other trials, like ALLIANCE or SEQUOIA. Pirtobrutinib did exceptionally well, as pirto is not just the very best BTK inhibitor overcoming the resistance, but perhaps even more important for the first line, it is very well tolerated and is a very selective drug. Now, if we look at treatment-related adverse events, the discontinuation rate, they were hardly ever seen. If we compared the adverse events in exposure-adjusted incidence, literally all adverse events were two or three times higher in bendamustine-rituximab arm except for the bleeding tendency, which however was predominantly in CTCAE grade 1 and 2 with just 0.7% of grade 3 hemorrhage. Therefore, I think that we should actually put the best and the safest drugs upfront if we may, and pirtobrutinib is, or should be, the first choice if we choose monotherapy. Now, I understand that we are not presenting you the data of pirtobrutinib in combination with anti-CD20 or with BCL2 inhibitors, but that is to come. Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: Matt, how would you envision, were regulatory approval granted and this were an option, using this in the upfront patient population? Is there anybody who you would preferentially use this or start on this treatment? Or would this be something that you would tend to reserve for second line? Dr. Matthew Davids: So I would say that in general for most of my patients who would want to start with a continuous BTK inhibitor, I would still use a covalent BTK inhibitor, and I say that for a couple of reasons despite the very promising data from these studies. The first is that the follow-up for both of these phase 3 trials is still quite short, in the range of a median 18 to 24 months. And we know that CLL is a marathon, not a sprint, and these patients are going to probably be living for a very long time. And we do have much longer follow-up from the covalent BTK inhibitors, median of 10-year follow-up with ibrutinib and five to six years with zanubrutinib and acalabrutinib respectively. And you know, I do not think that the pirtobrutinib is going to fall off a cliff after two years, but on the other hand, I think there is a lot of value to long-term data in this disease, and that is why I think for most of my patients I would stick with covalent BTK inhibitors. But the other important factor that we need to consider is patients who are younger and may have many different CLL treatments over the years. We have to be very careful, I think, about how we sequence these drugs. We know right now that we can start with covalent BTK inhibitors and then subsequently patients will respond well to the non-covalent inhibitor pirtobrutinib in later lines of therapy. But right now we do not have prospective data the other way around. So how will the patients on these studies who progress on pirtobrutinib respond to covalent BTK inhibitors? We do not know yet. There have not been a lot of progression events, which is great, but we would like to see some data in that respect to feel more comfortable with that sequence. Now, I do think that particularly for older patients and those who have significant cardiovascular comorbidities, if they wanted to go on a continuous BTK inhibitor, I do think these data really strongly support using pirtobrutinib as the BTK inhibitor of choice in that population. In particular, the cardiovascular risks with pirtobrutinib seem to be quite low. I was very struck in the comparison with BR that the rate of AFib was equivalent between the two arms of the study. And that is really the first time we have seen that with any of these BTK inhibitors, no elevated risk of AFib in a randomized study. I think that is the population where it will get the most traction first, is the upfront, sort of older patient with significant cardiovascular comorbidities. And as the data from these studies mature, I think that we will start to see more widespread use of pirtobrutinib in the frontline setting. Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: Jennifer, I am just curious if you have any personal experience or heard anecdotally about after progression on pirtobrutinib the use of other BTK inhibitors and whether there is a growing experience there. Dr. Jennifer Woyach: I do not think that there is much clinical experience, you know, as Matt alluded to, it certainly has not been tested yet. There has been some data in relapsed CLL suggesting that in people who have resistance mutations to covalent BTK inhibitors after treatment with pirtobrutinib, sometimes those mutations go away. I think most of us are concerned that they are probably not actually gone but maybe in compartments that we just have not sampled, suggesting that sort of approach where you might sequence a covalent inhibitor after a non-covalent in somebody who had already been resistant probably would not work that well. But, you know, in this setting where people had never been exposed to a covalent BTK inhibitor before, we really have no idea what the resistance patterns are going to be like. We assume they will be the same as what we have seen in relapsed CLL, but I think we just need some longer follow-up to know for sure. Dr. Wojciech Jurczak: If I may confront Dr. Davids about the use of covalent BTK inhibitors upfront, well, I think that we should abandon the idea of using the first and the second and the third generation, at least if we don't have medical lines. If we endlessly block the same pathway, it is not going to be effective. So if pirtobrutinib gets approval in first, second line, we do not necessarily have to use it in the first line. I am not here in a position to defend that we should treat patients with pirtobrutinib upfront and not BCL2 time-limited regimen. However, the way I look at CLL patients when choosing therapy is not just how should I treat them now, but what would be the best regimen in 5, 10 years if I have to re-treat them. And in some instances, the idea may be that in this setting we would like to have a BTK inhibitor upfront to have a BCL2 inhibitor later to make it time-limited. Although I understand and I agree with Matthew that if we have an elderly, fragile population, then the charm of having a drug taken once a day in a tablet with literally few cardiovascular adverse events might be an option. Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: And I will give Matt the last word whether he wants to respond to that, and also just as a forward-looking issue, I know both investigators have implied that there will be future studies looking at combinations with pirtobrutinib, and if you have any sense as to what you would be looking for there. Dr. Matthew Davids: The field really is heading toward time-limited therapy for most patients, I would say. There is a bit of a discrepancy right now in the field between sort of what we are doing in academic practice and what is done sort of more widely in community practice. And so right now we are going to see evolving datasets comparing these approaches. We are already seeing data now from the CLL17 study with ibrutinib comparing continuous to time-limited venetoclax-based therapy, and we are seeing similar efficacy benefits from these time-limited therapies without the need for continuous treatment. And so that is where I think some of the future studies with pirtobrutinib combining it with venetoclax and other partners are so important. Fortunately, several of these studies are already ongoing, including a phase 3 trial called CLL18, which is looking at pirtobrutinib with venetoclax, comparing that to venetoclax and obinutuzumab. So I am optimistic that we are going to be developing these very robust datasets where we can actually use pirtobrutinib in the frontline setting as a time-limited therapy as a component of a multi-drug regimen. So far, those early data are very promising. Dr. Wojciech Jurczak: Perhaps last but not least, in a single center we have treated over 300 patients with pirtobrutinib. So eventually some of them relapsed. And I must say that our experience on BCL2 inhibitors, not just venetoclax but including sonrotoclax, are appealingly good. Therefore, by using pirtobrutinib even earlier, we do not block the efficacy of other compounds. Dr. Jonathan Friedberg: All right. Well, I want to thank all of our speakers. I also want to congratulate our two guests who presented these very influential papers at the ASH Annual Meeting, and chose to publish them in JCO, so we thank you for that, and Dr. Davids for your commentary - really appreciated. That is this episode of JCO After Hours. Thank you for your attention. The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. This is not a substitute for professional medical care and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of individual conditions. Guests on this podcast express their own opinions, experience, and conclusions. Guest statements on the podcast do not express the opinions of ASCO. The mention of any product, service, organization, activity, or therapy should not be construed as an ASCO endorsement.   Disclosures Dr. Wojciech Jurczak Consulting or Advisory Role: BeiGene, Lilly, Abbvie/Genentech, Takeda, Roche, AstraZeneca Research Funding: Roche, Takeda, Janssen-Cilag, BeiGene, AstraZeneca, Lilly, Abbvie/Genentech Dr. Jennifer Woyach Consulting or Advisory Role: Pharmacyclics, Janssen, AstraZeneca, Beigene, Loxo, Newave Pharmaceutical, Genentech, Abbvie, Merck Research Funding: Company name: Janssen, Schrodinger, beone, Abbvie, Merck, Loxo/Lilly Dr. Matthew Davids Honoraria: Curio Science, Aptitude Health, Bio Ascend, PlatformQ Health, Plexus Consulting or Advisory Role: Genentech, Janssen, Abbvie, AstraZeneca, Adaptive Biotechnologies, Ascentage Pharma, BeiGene, Lilly, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Genmab, Merck, MEI Pharma, Nuvalent, Inc., Galapagos NV, Schroedinger Research Funding: Ascentage Pharma, Novartis, MEI Pharma, AstraZeneca  

Featuring a slide presentation and related discussion from Dr Rafael Fonseca, including the following topics: Recent updates from ASH 2024 on the up-front use of anti-CD38 monoclonal antibodies for multiple myeloma (MM) (0:00) Updated data with belantamab mafodotin for the management of MM (12:39) Updated findings with chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy for the management of MM (17:52) ASH 2024 updates with other novel agents and strategies for the management of MM (21:32) CME information and select publications

Featuring an interview with Dr Rafael Fonseca, including the following topics: Safe management of bispecific antibodies and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for patients with multiple myeloma (MM) (0:00) Sequencing bispecific antibodies and CAR T-cell therapy (10:40) Available data with and potential future clinical integration of belantamab mafodotin in the management of MM (16:03) Optimizing maintenance therapy for patients with MM (31:11) Novel management strategies for smoldering myeloma (36:29) Role of anti-CD38 antibodies in the up-front management of MM (41:41) Available data with cereblon E3 ligase modulatory drugs for MM (47:45) CME information and select publications

Dr Rafael Fonseca from Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona, discusses datasets from the 2024 ASH meeting on the management of newly diagnosed and relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. CME information and select publications here.

Featuring an interview with Dr Lindsey Roeker, including the following topics: Clinical development of novel Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) degraders in therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) (0:00) Safety of BTK inhibitors in older and frail patients with CLL (3:41) Utility of minimal residual disease-guided treatment with venetoclax/obinutuzumab (9:20) Impact of the AMPLIFY study of acalabrutinib with venetoclax with or without obinutuzumab in CLL (16:32) Utility of acalabrutinib, venetoclax and obinutuzumab for high-risk CLL (23:31) Emerging data with sonrotoclax and zanubrutinib in treatment-naïve CLL (25:16) Sequencing, tolerability and future development involving pirtobrutinib (25:57) Emerging data with the addition of a BTK inhibitor to chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy (32:28) Clinical considerations in the management of Richter's transformation (38:14) Survival outcomes and quality of life for patients with CLL (41:02) Ongoing and future efforts to improve CLL treatment outcomes (45:01) CME information and select publications  

Dr Lindsey Roeker from Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, discusses recent updates on available and novel treatment strategies for chronic lymphocytic leukemia. CME information and select publications here.

Featuring a slide presentation and related discussion from Dr Lindsey Roeker, including the following topics: Recent clinical updates with standard regimens for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) (0:00) Utility of minimal residual disease-guided treatment intensification after ibrutinib with venetoclax  (7:03) Major long-term findings from the GLOW study of ibrutinib with venetoclax (10:35) Principal findings from the AMPLIFY study of acalabrutinib with venetoclax with or without obinutuzumab (12:28) Findings with combined acalabrutinib, venetoclax and obinutuzumab for patients with previously untreated high-risk disease  (15:52) Early clinical findings with sonrotoclax and zanubrutinib as front-line treatment for CLL (18:12) Principal findings from the BRUIN CLL-321 trial of pirtobrutinib for patients who previously received a covalent Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor  (19:38) Emerging evidence with pirtobrutinib, venetoclax and obinutuzumab as front-line treatment  (22:15) Novel strategy combining lisocabtagene maraleucel with ibrutinib for relapsed/refractory (R/R) CLL (24:13) Available data with epcoritamab monotherapy for R/R CLL  (26:58) The emerging pharmacologic class of BTK degraders  (29:04) CME information and select publications

Featuring an interview with Dr John P Leonard, including the following topics: First-line therapy for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) with polatuzumab vedotin and R-CHP; impact of DLBCL cell of origin (0:00) Epcoritamab, glofitamab and other bispecific antibodies as initial therapy for large B-cell lymphoma (9:27) Sequencing chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy and bispecific antibodies for patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) DLBCL (12:30) Approved and investigational bispecific antibodies for the treatment of DLBCL (15:24) Practical considerations for the administration of mosunetuzumab (22:03) Tafasitamab combined with lenalidomide/rituximab as second-line treatment for follicular lymphoma (FL); third- and later-line therapy options (24:33) Activity of Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitors in FL and other non-Hodgkin lymphomas (31:27) Risk of infection for patients receiving bispecific antibodies (33:23) Chemotherapy-free regimens for the treatment of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) (36:21) Current role of transplant in the treatment algorithm for MCL; potential integration of bispecific antibodies into therapy for R/R disease (41:23) Myths and misperceptions about the management of DLBCL, FL and MCL (47:29) CME information and select publications

Dr John P Leonard from Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, New York, reviews data presented at the 2024 ASH Annual Meeting and their implications for the treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphomas. CME information and select publications here.

Featuring a slide presentation and related discussion from Dr John P Leonard, including the following topics: Five-year analysis of the POLARIX trial of polatuzumab vedotin with R-CHP for previously untreated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (0:00) Epcoritamab, glofitamab and other bispecific antibodies for large B-cell lymphoma (5:33) Circulating tumor DNA as an early outcome predictor in patients with large B-cell lymphoma receiving second-line lisocabtagene maraleucel in the TRANSFORM study (16:44) The bispecific antibodies mosunetuzumab and odronextamab as initial therapy for follicular lymphoma (FL) (19:27) The Phase III inMIND trial of tafasitamab in combination with lenalidomide/rituximab for recurrent FL (22:58) Updated results from studies of bispecific antibodies and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy for relapsed/refractory FL (24:58) Updates from the Phase III TRIANGLE and ECOG-ACRIN EA4151 trials on the role of autologous stem cell transplant in the treatment of previously untreated mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) (27:48) Novel treatment approaches with Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitors for patients with newly diagnosed MCL (30:53) CME information and select publications

Featuring a slide presentation and related discussion from Dr Raajit K Rampal, including the following topics: Overview of the current JAK inhibitor landscape (0:00) Factors predicting clinical benefit in patients with myelofibrosis (MF) receiving ruxolitinib (3:02) Clinical data supporting the use of fedratinib after prior ruxolitinib for MF (9:17) Emerging clinical findings on pelabresib in combination with ruxolitinib for previously untreated MF (12:13) Available clinical data with novel BET inhibitors (15:00) Utility of selinexor in combination with ruxolitinib for MF previously treated with ruxolitinib (16:50) Emerging efficacy and safety findings reported with imetelstat for MF (18:57) Clinical findings reported with the MDM2 inhibitor navtemadlin for MF (21:15) Available clinical data with the TGF-beta inhibitor elritercept for MF (24:05) Other novel agents and strategies under investigation for MF (26:06) CME information and select publications

Featuring an interview with Dr Raajit K Rampal, including the following topics: Clinical decision-making in the initiation and stopping of systemic therapy for myelofibrosis (MF) (0:00) Novel research strategies involving CDK4/6 inhibitors for MF (8:03) Implications of the JUMP study for clinical practice (10:00) Therapeutic switching strategies with JAK inhibitors for MF (12:17) Clinical rationale for the use of luspatercept and elritercept for MF (15:35) Emerging clinical data involving BET inhibitors for MF (16:57) Tolerability concerns with selinexor in patients with MF (20:01) Mechanism of and clinical data with the MDM2 inhibitor navtemadlin for MF (22:32) Additional novel strategies under clinical investigation for MF (25:52) Potential transformation of myeloproliferative neoplasms to acute myeloid leukemia (29:40) Management of polycythemia vera and essential thrombocythemia (34:27) General management principles for myeloproliferative neoplasms (37:53) CME information and select publications

Dr Raajit K Rampal from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York, discusses recent updates on available and novel treatment strategies for myelofibrosis. CME information and select publications here.

In today's episode, supported by Amgen, we had the pleasure of speaking with Ryan Cassaday, MD, an associate professor in the Clinical Research Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and an associate professor in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, Washington.  In our exclusive interview, Dr Cassaday discussed insights from several trials investigating blinatumomab (Blincyto) in patients with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) that were reported at the 2024 ASH Annual Meeting, including subgroup analyses of the phase 3 ECOG-ACRIN E1910 trial (NCT02003222). He also shared how findings from the phase 3 AALL1731 trial (NCT03914625) of blinatumomab plus chemotherapy in children with newly diagnosed B-ALL may be extrapolated to the adult B-ALL patient population. 

In today's episode, supported by BeiGene, Alexey Danilov, MD, PhD, hosted a discussion with Susan M. O'Brien, MD, about key data updates with BTK inhibitors in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) that were presented at the 2024 ASH Annual Meeting. Dr Danilov is the Marianne and Gerhard Pinkus Professor of Early Clinical Therapeutics, the medical director of the Early Phase Therapeutics Program for the Systems Clinical Trials Office, co-director of the Toni Stephenson Lymphoma Center, and a professor in the Division of Lymphoma at the Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation at City of Hope in Duarte, California. Dr O'Brien is the associate director for Clinical Science at the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, the medical director of the Sue & Ralph Stern Center for Clinical Trials & Research, and a professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology in the University of California Irvine School of Medicine. In our exclusive interview, Drs Danilov and O'Brien discussed potentially practice-changing data with acalabrutinib (Calquence)–based regimens from the phase 3 AMPLIFY trial (NCT03836261) in CLL, key updates with zanubrutinib (Brukinsa) as monotherapy and in combination with sonrotoclax (BGB-11417) in patients with this disease, and practice-confirming findings with pirtobrutinib (Jaypirca) from the phase 3 BRUIN CLL-321 trial (NCT04666038) in patients with previously treated CLL.

In this special crossover episode of Oncology Overdrive, we bring you Healio coverage from the ASH Annual Meeting and Exhibition, as well as Healio's top headlines from the meeting. Gwen L. Nichols, MD, reviews a panel discussion on how hematologists and oncologists can best address patients' concerns as AI's role in medicine invariably expands. :24 Thomas G. Knight, MD, addresses financial toxicity for people with blood cancer. 6:29 Charles S. Abrams, MD, discusses results of the HIBISCUS trial and its implications for vaso-occlusive events. 16:30 Read the full coverage here: AI in hematology: ‘The good, the bad and the ugly' Mitigating financial toxicity 'better than any drug' for people with cancer Etavopivat could offer ‘great benefit' in sickle cell disease ASH recognizes Judith Kleinerman, MD, with Exemplary Service Award GLP-1s reduce thrombosis risk among people with diabetes, regardless of obesity We'd love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to Dr. Jain at oncologyoverdrive@healio.com. Follow Healio on X and LinkedIn: @HemOncToday and https://www.linkedin.com/company/hemonctoday/. Follow Dr. Jain on X: @ShikhaJainMD. Disclosures: Jain reports no financial disclosures. Abrams reports he is chair of the ASH Research Collaborative's Sickle Cell Disease Clinical Trials Network Oversight Committee. Knight reports no relevant financial disclosures. Nichols reports no relevant financial disclosures.

In today's episode, supported by BeiGene, we had the pleasure of speaking with Mazyar Shadman, MD, MPH, about updates in zanubrutinib (Brukinsa)–focused research in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) that were presented at the 2024 ASH Annual Meeting. Dr Shadman is an associate professor in the Clinical Research Division and the medical director of Cellular Immunotherapy at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, Washington. In our exclusive interview, Dr Shadman discussed key findings and implications from several clinical trials investigating zanubrutinib as monotherapy and in combination with agents such as obinutuzumab (Gazyva), sonrotoclax (BGB-11417), and venetoclax (Venclexta) in patients with CLL and other B-cell malignancies.

- Overview of Blood Cancers - New Research Presented at ASH - Disease-Specific Treatment Updates from ASH on: Leukemia, Lymphoma, Multiple Myeloma & Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPNs) - The Role of Precision Medicine & Clinical Trials - Guidelines to Prepare for Telehealth/Telemedicine Appointments, Including Technology, Prepared List of Questions & Discussion of OpenNotes - Key Questions to Ask Your Health Care Team About Quality-of-Life Concerns - Questions for Our Panel of Experts

- Overview of Blood Cancers - New Research Presented at ASH - Disease-Specific Treatment Updates from ASH on: Leukemia, Lymphoma, Multiple Myeloma & Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPNs) - The Role of Precision Medicine & Clinical Trials - Guidelines to Prepare for Telehealth/Telemedicine Appointments, Including Technology, Prepared List of Questions & Discussion of OpenNotes - Key Questions to Ask Your Health Care Team About Quality-of-Life Concerns - Questions for Our Panel of Experts

- Overview of Blood Cancers - New Research Presented at ASH - Disease-Specific Treatment Updates from ASH on: Leukemia, Lymphoma, Multiple Myeloma & Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPNs) - The Role of Precision Medicine & Clinical Trials - Guidelines to Prepare for Telehealth/Telemedicine Appointments, Including Technology, Prepared List of Questions & Discussion of OpenNotes - Key Questions to Ask Your Health Care Team About Quality-of-Life Concerns - Questions for Our Panel of Experts

- Overview of Blood Cancers - New Research Presented at ASH - Disease-Specific Treatment Updates from ASH on: Leukemia, Lymphoma, Multiple Myeloma & Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPNs) - The Role of Precision Medicine & Clinical Trials - Guidelines to Prepare for Telehealth/Telemedicine Appointments, Including Technology, Prepared List of Questions & Discussion of OpenNotes - Key Questions to Ask Your Health Care Team About Quality-of-Life Concerns - Questions for Our Panel of Experts

- Overview of Blood Cancers - New Research Presented at ASH - Disease-Specific Treatment Updates from ASH on: Leukemia, Lymphoma, Multiple Myeloma & Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPNs) - The Role of Precision Medicine & Clinical Trials - Guidelines to Prepare for Telehealth/Telemedicine Appointments, Including Technology, Prepared List of Questions & Discussion of OpenNotes - Key Questions to Ask Your Health Care Team About Quality-of-Life Concerns - Questions for Our Panel of Experts

- Overview of Blood Cancers - New Research Presented at ASH - Disease-Specific Treatment Updates from ASH on: Leukemia, Lymphoma, Multiple Myeloma & Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPNs) - The Role of Precision Medicine & Clinical Trials - Guidelines to Prepare for Telehealth/Telemedicine Appointments, Including Technology, Prepared List of Questions & Discussion of OpenNotes - Key Questions to Ask Your Health Care Team About Quality-of-Life Concerns - Questions for Our Panel of Experts

- Overview of Blood Cancers - New Research Presented at ASH - Disease-Specific Treatment Updates from ASH on: Leukemia, Lymphoma, Multiple Myeloma & Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPNs) - The Role of Precision Medicine & Clinical Trials - Guidelines to Prepare for Telehealth/Telemedicine Appointments, Including Technology, Prepared List of Questions & Discussion of OpenNotes - Key Questions to Ask Your Health Care Team About Quality-of-Life Concerns - Questions for Our Panel of Experts

In today's episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with Andre Goy, MD, about key updates from the 2024 ASH Annual Meeting. Dr Goy is physician in chief of Hackensack Meridian Health Oncology Care Transformation Services, as well as the chairman, chief physician officer, and chief of the Lymphoma Division at the John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey. In our exclusive interview, Dr Goy discussed top hematologic oncology research conducted by his colleagues at the John Theurer Cancer Center and his predictions for the future of the field in 2025 and beyond.

This podcast Clinical Clip features a leading expert highlighting the latest advances in Acute Myeloid Leukemia(AML) treatments presented at the 66th ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition from December 7-10, 2024, in San Diego, CA.Launch Date: December 16, 2024Release Date: December 16, 2024Expiration Date: November 30, 2025FACULTYNaval Daver, MDDirector, Leukemia Research Alliance Program,Professor of MedicineDepartment of LeukemiaMD Anderson Cancer CenterThis podcast provides accredited continuing education credits.  To receive your credit, please read the accreditation information provided at this link prior to listening to this podcast.

In this episode of #MovingMedicineForward – The Podcast, CTI experts Chad Jones & Eric Clayton discuss challenges in clinical research surrounding Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) & Multiple Myeloma (MM). They explore the complexities of designing & conducting clinical trials, the importance of site selection, & how CTI's expertise enhances trial outcomes. Additionally, they touch on key advancements to watch at the 66th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting. During the episode, Eric explains how, “These are some of the first times that these therapies are being tried in human participants, & that innovative experimentation is what makes this work so exciting.” 0:22 Challenges in clinical research for Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and Multiple Myeloma (MM), with insights from CTI experts Chad Jones, Sr. Director of Project Management and Oncology Strategy Lead, and Eric Clayton, Clinical Project Manager III.  0:51 Overview of AML and MM, and why these diseases are particularly difficult to treat.  1:32 Key challenges in designing and conducting clinical trials for AML and MM.  3:19 How site selection and management impact trial success, and challenges Contract Research Organizations (CROs) face when recruiting qualified sites.  5:14 How CTI's expertise supports sponsors and improves trial outcomes.  6:38 The importance of maintaining proper chain of custody.  9:53 Key treatments and advancements in hematology to watch at the 66th ASH Annual Meeting.  10:33 Visit CTI at booth #454 at ASH.  10:41 Regulatory considerations for treatments and how CTI navigates this process for patients.  12:31 Collaboration between CROs, pharmaceutical companies, and academic institutions to accelerate research.  13:12 Unmet needs in AML and MM research and how the industry can address them.  14:16 Challenges in improving patient outcomes for MM and AML.  16:22 How CTI mitigates patient retention during clinical trials.  18:33 Strategies for recruiting critically ill MM and AML patients.  21:41 CTI is recruiting a Sr. Medical Director in Hematology/Oncology. Apply now: Senior Medical Director - Hematology/Oncology - Level Dependent Upon Experience | Join The CTI Team  

Leading into the ASH Annual Meeting, Dr. Kami Maddocks, professor in the Division of Hematology at The Ohio State University and medical director of infusion services at The James Comprehensive Cancer Center, provides an in-depth analysis of advancements in non-Hodgkin lymphoma care, with a focus on aggressive B-cell lymphoma. She explores the evolving roles of immunotherapies like CAR-T cells and bispecific antibodies in high-risk patient populations, discusses the impact of cell-of-origin testing on frontline treatment decisions, and evaluates the latest data guiding choices between R-CHOP, transplant, and CAR-T therapy after first relapse. Dr. Maddocks also highlights the promise of BTK inhibitors and maintenance approaches in transforming patient outcomes, offering insights into the future of lymphoma treatment. Check out Chadi's website for all Healthcare Unfiltered episodes and other content. www.chadinabhan.com/ Watch all Healthcare Unfiltered episodes on YouTube. www.youtube.com/channel/UCjiJPTpIJdIiukcq0UaMFsA

In this episode, Anthony and Bernie review the most impactful and interesting ALL abstracts at the 2023 ASH Annual Meeting. We dive into the nelarabine abstracts, calaspargase (cal-peg), and the evolution of the treatment of Ph+ ALL! Abstracts discussed: https://ash.confex.com/ash/2023/webprogram/Paper190141.html - COG AYA Outcomes (and silly nelarabine conclusions) https://ash.confex.com/ash/2023/webprogram/Paper177696.html - ATRIALL Nelarabine study https://ash.confex.com/ash/2023/webprogram/Paper179562.html - HyperCVAD + Nelarabine + PEG + venetoclax https://ash.confex.com/ash/2023/webprogram/Paper179192.html - ALL-TARGET Study in R/R T-ALL https://ash.confex.com/ash/2023/webprogram/Paper187694.html - Cal-PEG is toxic https://ash.confex.com/ash/2023/webprogram/Paper188064.html - Ponatinib + Blinatumomab https://ash.confex.com/ash/2023/webprogram/Paper187773.html - D-ALBA (Dasatinib + Blinatumomab) https://ash.confex.com/ash/2023/webprogram/Paper189632.html - GIMEMA (Dasatinib or Ponatinib + Blinatumomab)

Lee Greenberger, PhD, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Rye Brook, NY Recorded on December 19, 2023 Lee Greenberger, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President at The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, returns to discuss highlights from the 65th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting in December 2023, including updates on blood cancer research, treatment, and clinical trials in leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, MDS, and MPNs. Tune in to this informative update today!

The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.  Our news highlights this week focus on haematology, thanks in part to a number of key announcements at the 65th American Society for Hematology meeting (ASH) Annual Meeting, including real-world evidence on the use of CAR-T therapies in blood cancers and new data for myeloma and lymphoma treatments. You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts. 

- Overview of Blood Cancers, in the Context of COVID-19 - New Research Presented at ASH - Disease-Specific Treatment Updates from ASH on Leukemia, Lymphoma, Multiple Myeloma and Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPN) - The Role of Precision Medicine & Clinical Trials - Talking with Your Health Care Team about Your Treatment Options - Communicating with Your Health Care Team with Telehealth/Telemedicine Appointments - Guidelines to Prepare for These Appointments - Key Questions to Ask Your Health Care Team - Quality-of-Life Concerns - Questions for Our Panel of Experts

This past weekend, the CURE® staff was busy covering the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting. ASH is the largest blood cancer conference in the country, and thousands of abstracts were presented. Now, we're bringing you some of the highlights from the conference. And, to view all of our conference coverage, be sure to check out curetoday.com/conference Navitoclax Plus Jakafi Improves Spleen Volume Reductions in Myelofibrosis Spleen enlargement is a common and often problematic symptom of myelifbrosis. However, recent findings from the phase 3 TRANSFORM-1 trial found that combining the novel drug, navitoclax with Jakafi was successful in reducing spleen volume in this patient population. The main outcome that the researchers were looking at in this study was the percentage of patients who had a spleen volume reduction of 35% or more at certain time points. Findings showed that by week 24, 64.2% of patients who had the navitoclax regimen experienced this level of spleen reduction, compared to only 31.5% of patients who received placebo plus Jakafi — that's a significant overall difference of 31%. Navitoclax is not currently approved in any indication, but AbbVie, the pharmaceutical company behind the agent, plans to submit the drug for FDA approval in 2023, pending study results. Brukinsa Lengthens Time to Progression in Relapsed/Refractory CLL, SLL There are currently three BTK inhibitors for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL and SLL, respectively), though a lack of research exists that compares these drugs head-to-head. Now, the phase 3 ALPINE trial was the first study to directly compare two BTK inhibitors, Brukinsa and Imbruvica, in patients with relapsed or refractory CLL or SLL. Findings showed that after about 39 months of follow-up, patients given Brukinsa tended to live longer before death or disease progression — a statistic experts refer to as “progression-free survival.” In the general patient population, Brukinsa reduced the risk of disease progression by 32%, and for patients with 17p deletion and/or TP53 mutations — subtypes that typically indicate aggressive disease — there was a 48% reduction in the risk of disease progression. Abecma May Improve Quality of Life in Previously Treated Myeloma The phase 3 KarMMA-3 trial showed that Abecma significantly improved symptoms, functioning and health-related quality of life in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who previously underwent two to four prior treatments. Abecma is a CAR-T cell therapy, which is a newer type of treatment for blood cancers. It involves taking patients' blood out, and re-engineering their T cells to find and fight cancer. After they're multiplied, those new T cells are infused back into the patient. Findings from the KarMMA-3 trial showed that Abecma led to improvements in fatigue and pain compared with other standard regimens in this patient population.

Blood cancer treatments — and one treatment type, in particular — were the point of much discussion last week. The FDA said that it is investigating instances of secondary malignancies in patients with blood cancers treated with CAR-T cell therapy. Also, the drug manufacturer for a novel CAR-T cell therapy submitted an application to introduce the treatment into the United States market.  Blood cancers will continue to be a hot topic this week, as later in the week we'll be covering the American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting. And before that, we'll also be covering the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.  Chance or CAR-T: Expert Weighs in on FDA Investigation One of the biggest headlines in the cancer space last week was that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that they are investigating instances of T-cell malignancies — such as CAR-positive lymphoma — occurring in patients with blood cancers that were treated with CAR-T cell therapy.  CAR-T cell therapy is a newer type of blood cancer treatment that involves extracting patients' blood and reengineering their immune T cells to find and fight cancer. Those new T cells are then multiplied and infused back into the patient. Since the first CAR-T cell product was approved in 2017, this treatment modality has drastically improved outcomes for patients with certain types of blood cancers.  It's worth mentioning that the FDA's Nov. 28 report about T-cell malignancies did not definitively say that CAR-T cell therapies are directly causing secondary diseases. They also did not mention the frequency at which these T-cell malignancies are occurring. I spoke with Dr. John Lister, who said that perhaps it's the manufacturing process that could be the root cause, but perhaps it is also just chance, as research has shown that many patients with cancer hold a higher risk of developing a second cancer. For now, we're just going to have to wait and see what further data tells us.  FDA Biologics License Application Filed for Obe-Cel for Adult R/R B-ALL Also in CAR-T cell therapy news, last week a pharmaceutical company submitted a Biologics License Application to the FDA for their CAR-T cell therapy, obe-cel to be used for patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).  When a pharmaceutical company files a Biologics License Application to the FDA, they're essentially asking the agency to allow them to bring the drug to the market. The company submitting the drug must provide the FDA with multiple pieces of information, including findings from preclinical and clinical studies showing that the drug is safe.  In this instance, the pharmaceutical company cited data from the FELIX study, from which, early data showed that 76% if patients responded to the therapy, including 54.3% who had a complete response, meaning that their disease essentially disappeared. Now, updated findings from the trial will be presented at the upcoming ASH Annual Meeting happening next week.  

Featuring perspectives from Dr Jacob Laubach, including the following topics: Evolution of first-line treatment for multiple myeloma (MM) (0:00)  Perspectives on the future of bispecific antibody and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for the management of MM (13:27) ASH 2022 updates on front-line management of MM for transplant-ineligible patients (18:35) ASH 2022 updates on the use of isatuximab-containing regimens for newly diagnosed and relapsed/refractory (R/R) MM (24:57) ASH 2022 updates on the clinical efficacy of CAR T-cell therapy for R/R MM; perspectives on the future of belantamab mafodotin (35:05) ASH 2022 updates on the efficacy and safety of teclistamab for R/R MM (46:33) Bispecific antibody therapy administration and patient education (52:41) ASH 2022 updates on investigational bispecific antibodies and other novel therapies for MM (1:00:17) CME information and select publications

Dr Jacob Laubach from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute discusses key presentations in multiple myeloma from the 2022 ASH Annual Meeting. CME information and select publications here (http://www.researchtopractice.com/OncologyTodayPostASH23/MM).

Featuring a discussion on newly presented data in multiple myeloma from the 2022 ASH Annual Meeting, with Dr Jacob Laubach, moderated by Dr Neil Love.

Featuring an interview with Dr John Allan, including the following topics: •      Update on key studies of acalabrutinib in the front-line setting (0:00) •      Updated data from the GLOW study: First-line fixed-duration ibrutinib and venetoclax compared to chlorambucil and Obinutuzumab (21:11) •      Treatment outcomes after achieving undetectable minimal residual disease (MRD) with first-line ibrutinib and venetoclax: Updated analysis of the CAPTIVATE trial (35:06) •       Ibrutinib/venetoclax with MRD-driven duration of treatment: Updated analysis of the FLAIR trial (48:08) •      Acalabrutinib with venetoclax and obinutuzumab for previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in a population enriched for high-risk disease (50:49) •      Risk factors to predict failure of therapy using fixed-duration venetoclax/obinutuzumab (53:22) •      Updates on the ALPINE and BRUIN studies of zanubrutinib and pirtobrutinib, respectively, for relapsed/refractory CLL (56:15) •      Emerging data with novel Bcl-2 inhibitors (1:11:26) •      Evolving data with subcutaneous epcoritamab for patients with Richter's transformation and CLL (1:14:37) CME information and select publications

Dr John Allan from Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City discusses the most important chronic lymphocytic leukemia studies presented at ASH 2022. CME information and select publications here (http://www.researchtopractice.com/OncologyTodayPostASH23/CLL).

Featuring a discussion on chronic lymphocytic leukemia studies presented at ASH 2022 with Dr John Allan, moderated by Dr Neil Love.

Featuring perspectives from Dr Matthew Lunning, including the following topics: •      Potential role of polatuzumab vedotin/R-CHP in therapy for previously untreated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) (00:00) •      Association between metabolic tumor volume and clinical outcomes with loncastuximab tesirine in the LOTIS-2 trial and axicabtagene ciloleucel in the ZUMA-7 trial (10:54) •      Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies for large B-cell lymphomas: Activity, tolerability and patient selection (22:16) •      Efficacy of and durable complete responses with bispecific antibodies in patients with DLBCL (36:48) •      Five-year results and overall survival update from the Phase III AUGMENT study evaluating rituximab and lenalidomide (R2) versus rituximab and placebo for relapsed/refractory (R/R) indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma (42:44) •      Activity and safety of tazemetostat in combination with (R2) in patients with R/R follicular lymphoma (FL) (44:52) •      Long-term clinical outcomes with CAR T-cell therapies for patients with R/R FL (46:50) •      Available data with and ongoing studies of bispecific antibodies for R/R FL (50:23) •      Design and outcomes of the SHINE and TRIANGLE studies in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL); evolving role of transplantation for MCL (1:00:38) •      Real-time monitoring of minimal residual disease in patients receiving acalabrutinib with (R2) for treatment-naïve MCL (1:13:29) •      Assessment of durable responses after brexucabtagene autoleucel for R/R MCL in the ZUMA-2 trial (1:15:29) •      High complete response rates with glofitamab for patients with heavily pretreated MCL (1:19:00) •      Nivolumab with ICE (ifosfamide/carboplatin/etoposide) as first salvage therapy for patients with high-risk R/R Hodgkin lymphoma (1:21:04) •      Efficacy and safety of camidanlumab tesirine in patients with R/R classical Hodgkin lymphoma (1:23:07) •      Importance of brain-to-vein time in patients receiving CAR T-cell therapy (1:25:37) CME information and select publications

Dr Matthew Lunning from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, discusses the most important lymphoma studies presented at the 2022 ASH Annual Meeting. CME information and select publications here (http://www.researchtopractice.com/OncologyTodayPostASH23/Lymphoma).

Featuring a discussion on lymphoma studies presented at ASH 2022, with Dr Matthew Lunning, moderated by Dr Neil Love.

Featuring perspectives from Dr Srdan Verstovsek, including the following topics: Overview of current issues in the management of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) (0:00) Treatment strategies for patients with myelofibrosis (MF) progressing after ruxolitinib (14:46) Correlation of molecular characterization and response to ruxolitinib in patients with MF (23:57) Rationale for and efficacy with combined inhibition of Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL for MPN (44:38)   Targeting calreticulin mutations for MPN (52:02) Advances in the management of polycythemia vera (57:54)  Developments in the care of patients with essential thrombocythemia (1:04:43)  Future directions in the clinical care of patients with MPN (1:12:46) CME information and select publications

Featuring perspectives from Dr Richard Stone, including the following topics: Current and future trends in the care of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) (0:00) Management of AML with IDH1/2 and FLT3 mutations (17:28) Advances in the treatment of high-risk AML (29:42) Emerging data with novel therapies for AML with targetable mutations (36:53) Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation as a treatment option for patients with relapsed or refractory AML (51:15) Advances in the care of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (56:19) CME information and select publications