Articles

The addition of venetoclax (Venclexta) to bortezomib (Velcade) and dexamethasone yields high response rates in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, especially in patients with disease that is not refractory to bortezomib and who received 1 to 3 previous lines of therapy, according to findings presented by Philippe Moreau, MD, Department of Hematology, Nantes University Hospital, France, at the 2016 American Society of Hematology meeting.

Although tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), including imatinib (Gleevec), nilotinib (Tasigna), and dasatinib (Sprycel), have dramatically improved outcomes in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), the costs of these drugs have spiraled out of control, causing some patients to stop treatment or cut their dosage because of financial toxicity. Data presented at the 2016 American Society of Hematology meeting show that it is possible for some patients with CML to reduce their TKI dose by 50% and maintain remission, perhaps even stop treatment altogether once deep and durable remission has been achieved after approximately 5 years of treatment.

Delaying medication processing is common, especially when it comes to oral cancer therapies. Oncologists at 3 oncology clinics looked at such barriers and the potential impact on patient outcomes.

Adding the investigational smoothened (SMO) receptor inhibitor glasdegib to low-dose cytarabine (Depo­Cyt) significantly increased overall survival (OS) compared with low-dose cytarabine monotherapy in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) who were ineligible for intensive chemotherapy, according to a phase 2 study presented by Jorge E. Cortes, MD, Department of Leukemia, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, at the 2016 American Society of Hematology meeting.

A new economic model suggests that overall survival and drug toxicity profiles are insufficient for assessing the value of a drug. According to a study that incorporated late adverse events in advanced Hodgkin lymphoma, a more comprehensive benefit-to-risk ratio of a drug requires an understanding of its long-term health implications, said Ohad Oren, MD, Pennsylvania Hospital, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, at the 2016 American Society of Hematology meeting.

Daratumumab demonstrated superior efficacy when combined with lenalidomide plus dexamethasone compared with lenalidomide and dexamethasone alone in a prespecified interim analysis of a randomized phase 3 clinical trial of patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.

Targeted agents and immunotherapy are displacing chemotherapy in certain subgroups of the treatment of lung cancer, but chemotherapy remains a key therapeutic pillar in the daily management of patients with this disease, according to Jean-Charles Soria, MD, PhD, Head of the Drug Development Department, Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France.

Adherence to infusional or injectable anticancer drugs is not problematic—as long as the patient gets the infusion or injection, adherence is assured—but adherence is an emerging problem with newer oral anticancer drugs.

Although the prevalence of high-grade, aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma increases with age, survival outcomes for older patients are disproportionately inferior to those for younger patients.

Including both children and adults, the American Cancer Society’s estimates for 2016 predict approximately 6590 new cases of ALL (3590 in males and 3000 in females) and approximately 1430 deaths (800 in males and 630 in females) attributable to the disease.