S6 Ep7: Conference Highlights from the 2023 ASH Annual Meeting

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.