During the 60th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting & Exposition held December 1-4 in San Diego, California, Norman Sharpless, MD, director, National Cancer Institute (NCI), brought attention to several advances made in hematologic malignancies over the past year and highlighted 4 areas of focus going forward.
“Now more than a year into the job, I’ve heard from a lot of stakeholders. I’ve heard from doctors and scientists, patients and advocates, and one clear fact from all those conversations is this: it is a great time to be a cancer scientist and a cancer doctor in the United States,” said Norman Sharpless, MD, director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), as he addressed a crowd at the 60th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting & Exposition held December 1-4, 2018, in San Diego, California.
Sharpless highlighted numerous recent advancements in the care of hematologic malignancies, including moxetumomab pasudotox-tdfk, a new treatment for hairy cell leukemia, which hasn’t had a new treatment option in 20 years, as well as the 2 chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies approved in the last year: tisagenlecleucel and axicabtagene ciloleucel.
He also brought attention to 2 NCI-supported trials of both younger and older patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia that identified a chemotherapy-free approach using rituximab and ibrutinib rather than drugs like bendamustine and fludarabine for these patients. “This is really important because we now have a relatively gentle regimen that works really well for these patients,” he said.
Sharpless called the past year an “extraordinary period” for acute myeloid leukemia, which came after decades of limited progress. In the last year and a half, the FDA has approved 8 new drugs for the disease, including 2 isocitrate dehydrogenase inhibitors, 2 Flt-3 inhibitors, and venetoclax.
Advancements like these are a result of detailed, elegant basic science, according to Sharpless. “There’s this great basic science that’s developing in hematologic cancers, and these scientific developments are translating into meaningful therapies for patients,” he said.
However, despite this progress, many will rightly say it’s not enough, said Sharpless, with many of these new therapies being only moderately effective and sometimes not curative. He called these therapies singles and doubles, noting that we still need home runs.
Following a listening tour to hear from stakeholders across the hematologic landscape, Sharpless identified areas that, while they are not new concepts, we need to sharpen our focus on in the next few years. He outlined 4 focus areas:
ATS 2024: Bridging the Past, Present, and Future of Respiratory Care
May 16th 2024The application of artificial intelligence in medicine is anticipated as a highlight of ATS 2024, with sessions exploring its applications in research, radiological interpretation, and pediatric pulmonology.
Read More
The Importance of Examining and Preventing Atrial Fibrillation
August 29th 2023At this year’s American Society for Preventive Cardiology Congress on CVD Prevention, Emelia J. Benjamin, MD, ScM, delivered the Honorary Fellow Award Lecture, “The Imperative to Focus on the Prevention of Atrial Fibrillation,” as the recipient of this year’s Honorary Fellow of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology award.
Listen
Looking Back on ISPOR 2024: Hot Policy Topics, Welcome Focus on Employers, and More
May 10th 2024Kimberly Westrich, MA, chief strategy officer of the National Pharmaceutical Council, reflects on the most valuable learnings from the 2024 meeting of ISPOR—The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research, including lively discussions of the Inflation Reduction Act and workshops on value assessment.
Read More
Promoting Equity in Public Health: Policy, Investment, and Community Engagement Solutions
June 28th 2022On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Georges C. Benjamin, MD, executive director of the American Public Health Association, on the core takeaways of his keynote session at AHIP 2022 on public health policy and other solutions to promote equitable health and well-being.
Listen
Posters Characterize DMD Caregiver Experiences, Impact of Gene Therapy on Caregiving Demands
May 10th 2024Posters presented at the ISPOR—The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research meeting explored Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) caregiver experiences and gene therapy’s impact on work opportunities for caregivers.
Read More
A Focus on Women: AUA Best Posters Highlight Female Athletes, Prenatal Care, and Women in Urology
May 9th 2024Three posters from the American Urological Association (AUA) 2024 Annual Meeting focused on urinary incontinence in female athletes, prenatal care for fetuses with spina bifida in California, and the experiences of women residents at the Brady Urological Institute.
Read More