Hematology

The FDA has approved the first rituximab (Rituxan) biosimilar, CT-P10 (Truxima; rituximab-abbs), for the treatment of adult patients with CD20-positive, B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) as a single agent or in combination with chemotherapy.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted a priority review to the FLT3 inhibitor quizartinib for the treatment of relapsed or refractory FLT3-ITD acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the hedgehog pathway inhibitor glasdegib (Daurismo) for use in combination with low-dose cytarabine (LDAC) for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in newly-diagnosed patients who are aged 75 years or older or who are ineligible for intensive chemotherapy.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted an accelerated approval to venetoclax (Venclexta) for use in combination with azacitidine or decitabine or low-dose cytarabine for the treatment of newly-diagnosed adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who are aged 75 years or older, or who have comorbidities that preclude use of intensive induction chemotherapy.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded the approval of eltrombopag (Promacta) in combination with standard immunosuppressive therapy to include first-line use in newly diagnosed adult and pediatric patients aged 2 years and older with severe aplastic anemia.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) in combination with chemotherapy for the frontline treatment of patients with CD30-expressing peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL).

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted a breakthrough therapy designation to brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) for use in combination with chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of CD30-expressing peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL).

Elise James, LCSW, and Mayra Garcia, LCSW, describe the Stem Cell Transplant Meet and Greet program at The Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, which provides psychosocial support to pre-transplant patients.

The Aplastic Anemia & MDS International Foundation (AAMDSIF), the world's leading non-profit health organization dedicated to serving patients afflicted with bone marrow failure disease, announced today that Neil Horikoshi has been named the Foundation's new Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director.

Selinexor has been granted a fast track designation by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat previously treated patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) who are ineligible to receive high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell rescue or chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy.

The FDA has approved elotuzumab (Empliciti) for use in combination with pomalidomide (Pomalyst) and low-dose dexamethasone (EPd) for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma following 2 or more prior therapies, including lenalidomide (Revlimid) and a proteasome inhibitor.

Treatment for multiple myeloma is quickly evolving. To bring physicians, nurses, and other members of the community oncology care team up to date, Abhinav B. Chandra, MD, MSc, FACP, conducted a presentation at the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) 35th National Oncology Conference in Phoenix, Arizona.

Investigators are hopeful that idasanutlin, a novel small molecule that targets the MDM2 protein, is being tested in combination with cytarabine in the international phase III MIRROS clinical trial (NCT02545283) to see if omprove the efficacy of chemotherapy in patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

The value of axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel; Yescarta), an anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, in treating R/R MCL will be tested in the multi­center phase II ZUMA-2 clinical trial (NCT02601313).

The FDA has granted a priority designation to a supplemental new drug application (sNDA) for ibrutinib (Imbruvica) for use in combination with obinutuzumab (Gazyva) for the frontline treatment of adult patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL).

The FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) recommended approval of CT-P10, a biosimilar for the monoclonal antibody rituximab (Rituxin), for 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma indications in a 16-0 vote.

The FDA has granted a priority review to the XPO1 inhibitor selinexor for the treatment of patients with penta-refractory multiple myeloma.

The FDA has approved a once-weekly dosing option of carfilzomib (Kyprolis) to use in combination with dexamethasone for patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

The FDA has approved duvelisib (Copiktra) for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) or relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma.

Frontline therapy may be able to be avoided in asymptomatic, young, fit patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), explained Simon Rule, MD, PhD, in a presentation during the 2018 SOHO Annual Meeting. Active treatment in this patient population could potentially lead to unnecessary toxicities, he added.

Two trials have shown that carfilzomib (Kyprolis)-based regimens appeared to be a safe and effective treatments for all patients with multiple myeloma, according to updated data from the ASPIRE and ENDEAVOR trials presented at the 2018 SOHO Annual Meeting.

A study published in Blood demonstrated the significant disparities found between insurance status and survival outcomes in patients of all ages with follicular lymphoma.

Patients with multiple myeloma who are older than 75 years could be viable candidates for autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT).

The FDA has approved the CD22-directed recombinant immunotoxin moxetumomab pasudotox (Lumoxiti) for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory hairy cell leukemia (HCL) who have received at least 2 prior lines of therapy, including treatment with a purine nucleoside analog.

Although JAK inhibitors are a proven effective treatment for patients with myelofibrosis, a type of myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN), they may come with a severe downside; in particular, a 16-fold increase in the chance of developing a B-cell lymphoma, according to recent research published in the journal Blood.

Adverse events (AEs) associated with brentuximab vedotin (BV; Adcetris) - used to treat hematological malignancies - may be serious, and nurses need to understand what they are, monitor for them, and treat them promptly.

The FDA has approved the kinase inhibitor ibrutinib (Imbruvica) for use in combination with rituximab (Rituxan) for the treatment of patients with Waldenström macroglobulinemia, a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

The FDA has granted a priority review to the immunostimulatory monoclonal antibody elotuzumab (Empliciti) for use in combination with pomalidomide (Pomalyst) and low-dose dexamethasone (EPd) to treat patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (MM) who have received 2 or more prior therapies, including lenalidomide (Revlimid) and a proteasome inhibitor.

The FDA has granted a priority review designation to a biologics license application (BLA) for SL-401 (tagraxofusp, Elzonris) for the treatment of patients with blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN), according to Stemline Therapeutics, the developer of the novel stemness inhibitor.

The FDA has approved the monoclonal antibody mogamulizumab-kpkc (Poteligeo) for the treatment of patients with 2 rare subtypes of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, mycosis fungoides or Sézary syndrome, who have received at least 1 prior systemic therapy.