Articles

Atlanta, GA—Interim results from a phase 1/2 study of the combination of brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) and nivolumab (Opdivo) have demonstrated a high overall response rate (ORR) in patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma. According to data presented at ASH 2017, 83% of patients responded to the combination, which included a 62% rate among efficacy-evaluable patients.

Atlanta, GA—Among patients with untreated follicular lymphoma, 75% achieved complete responses with the 3-drug combination of atezolizumab (Tecentriq), obinutuzumab (Gazyva), and bendamustine (Treanda), results of a small, preliminary clinical trial reported at ASH 2017 showed.

Atlanta, GA—Adding brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) to doxorubicin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (A+AVD) instead of the standard regimen with doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD) as frontline treatment for advanced Hodgkin lymphoma reduced the risk for disease progression, death, or the need for additional therapy by 23%, according to new data presented at ASH 2017.

Atlanta, GA—Single-agent daratum­umab (Darzalex) shows significant activity in smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM). The 12-month progression-free survival (PFS) rate with a long dosing schedule of daratumumab was 95%, and the median PFS was not yet reached in any of the 3 dosing schedules studied, announced Craig C. Hofmeister, MD, MPH, Associate Professor, Division of Hematology, the Ohio State University, Columbus, at ASH 2017.

Atlanta, GA—A maintenance regimen of lenalidomide (Revlimid) and elotuzumab (Empliciti) after autologous stem-cell transplant (ASCT) improved the quality of responses achieved with induction therapy in patients with multiple myeloma.

Atlanta, GA—Venetoclax (Venclexta) plus rituximab (Rituxan) achieved superior progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) compared with standard-of-care bendamustine (Treanda/Bendeka) plus rituximab in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). PFS improved by 81% and OS by 52% with venetoclax plus rituximab, and the depth of response was impressive—complete response and complete response with incomplete platelet recovery was 26.8%, and minimal residual disease negativity in peripheral blood was 83.5%.

Atlanta, GA—More than 90% of patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) achieved objective responses with the new Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor acalabrutinib (Calquence), updated data from an ongoing study showed. In most cases, the responses were durable, reported John C. Byrd, MD, Director, Division of Hematology, the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbus, at ASH 2017.

Atlanta, GA—The past few years have witnessed significant progress in the treatment of several hematologic malignancies, and truly paradigm-changing therapies have recently emerged in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). At ASH 2017, Crystal L. Mackall, MD, Co-Director, Immunology & Immunotherapy of Cancer Program, Stanford University, CA, discussed the FDA approvals of 2 important treatments for patients with B-cell precursor ALL.

Atlanta, GA—Ibrutinib (Imbruvica) plus venetoclax (Venclexta) led to an objective response rate of 100% in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), with 47% in complete remission at 6 months. These high response rates were achieved with only 1 case of laboratory tumor lysis syndrome, said Peter Hillmen, MBChB, PhD, FRCP, FRCPath, Leader, Section of Experimental Haematology, Leeds Institute of Cancer and Pathology, United Kingdom, at ASH 2017.

Atlanta, GA—A pair of recent studies from the Mayo Clinic underscore the serious symptom burden experienced by patients diagnosed with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), according to data presented at ASH 2017. Specifically, patients with MPNs are at high risk for depression, and those with Philadelphia chromosome–negative disease are afflicted with sleep and psychiatric disturbance as well.