Latest Conference Articles

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.

W. Clay Jackson, MD, DipTh, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry, department of family medicine, University of Tennessee College of Medicine, discusses factors leading to and telltale signs of clinician burnout, best practices for addressing burnout, and how well the United States health system addresses burnout.

There is a subset of patients who don't respond to monoamine modulating antidepressants, so there has been a focus on looking for other potential pathways for treatment, said Michael Thase, MD, professor of psychiatry and director of the Mood and Anxiety Program at the University of Pennsylvania.

There is a lot of disagreement, even within the neuroendocrine tumor (NET) circles, that there are biomarkers that predict outcomes and some that may even predict responses to therapy, explained Thorvardur Halfdanarson, MD, associate professor of medicine and consultant in medical oncology, Mayo Clinic.

Although there haven't been as many new drug approvals for multiple myeloma as there were last year, there are many new agents entering the market and exciting new discoveries, said Robert Rifkin, MD, FACP, medical director, biosimilars and associate chair, hematology research, McKesson Specialty Health.

Patients with Down syndrome are at an increased risk for developing leukemia, but how much of an increased risk depends on age, explained Irene Roberts, MD, professor of pediatric hematology, MRC molecular hematology unit and pediatrics, MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine.

Ibrutinib combined with obinutuzumab had better progression-free survival (PFS) at 30 months than the standard chemoimmunotherapy regimen, chlorambucil plus obinutuzumab, regardless of high-risk genomic features in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic leukemia (SLL) who had never been treated.

While several associations between constitutional syndromes, such as Down syndrome, and predisposition to cancers have been recognized, recommendations for surveillance or clear association between the 2 are lacking.

According to the results of Alliance A041202, an international multicenter phase 3 trial, ibrutinib produces superior progression-free survival (PFS) compared with standard chemoimmunotherapy in older patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and adding rituximab does not improve the ibrutinib response.

Jeff Sharman, MD, medical oncologist, Willamette Valley Cancer Institute and Research Center; medical director, The US Oncology Network, discusses the standard of care for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in the first-line setting and the relapsed setting during the American Society of Hematology 60th Annual Meeting & Exposition in San Diego, California.

Health resource utilization data gathered from the TRANSCEND-NHL trial have found that longer stays in the intensive care unit have a significant impact on the cost of care due to cytokine release syndrome (CRS) following treatment with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells.

W. Clay Jackson, MD, DipTh, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry, department of family medicine, University of Tennessee College of Medicine, discusses how clinician burnout impacts not only personal outcomes, but also patient outcomes.

We’re beginning to understand that mutational profiles can tell us something about the character of the leukemia, said Elizabeth Griffiths, MD, associate professor of oncology, department of medicine, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.

There have been substantial efforts to increase both access to and participation in clinical trials among adolescents and young adults (AYAs), but their representation remains low, explained Theresa H.M Keegan, PhD, MS, associate professor, hematology and oncology, University of California at Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) typically face episodic emergency department (ED) and inpatient encounters, and innovative interventions are necessary to improve adherence to hydroxyurea treatment among youth suffering from SCD. These were the findings of 2 studies presented during an outcomes research session at the 60th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting & Exposition.

A multicenter retrospective study that evaluated the efficacy and safety of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell treatment, axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel; Yescarta), in a real-world setting found a similar response as well as toxicity compared with the ZUMA-1 clinical trial.

Aimee Tharaldson, PharmD, a senior clinical consultant in Emerging Therapeutics for Express Scripts, outlines specialty drug approvals she's keeping her eye on in the coming year.

The value of these mergers will really be dependent on how rapidly and effectively they can change the retail pharmacy setting, said Dan Mendelson, MPP, founder, Avalere Health.

There are a number of different ways that payers are looking at new reimbursement models for new, high-cost therapies, said Jane F. Barlow, MD, MPH, MBA, senior advisor, Center for Biomedical Innovation at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

From December 1-4, hematology professionals from across the globe will convene in San Diego, California for the American Society of Hematology annual meeting to present and discuss their research and latest developments in malignant and non-malignant hematology. Here’s what to look out for during the meeting.

The proposed changes to the Medicare Shared Savings Program may put a damper on the accountable care organization (ACO) movement, but ACOs remain the government’s best option for controlling healthcare costs, said Stephen Nuckolls, CEO of Coastal Carolina Quality Care.

There are some proposed changes to the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) that may be favorably or not depending on the accountable care organization (ACO) and its situation, said Allison Brennan, MPP, senior vice president of government affairs for the National Association of ACOs.

After being treated for his chronic lymphocytic leukemia with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, Brian Koffman, MDCM, DCFP, DABFM, MS Ed, medical director, CLL Society, is being followed for 15 years to better understand if there are any undiscovered adverse events that pop up and how durable the response is.

The way Washington, DC, works will make it difficult to enact any meaningful change that will cause a difference in how much patients pay for prescription drugs, said Joe Antos, PhD, the Wilson H. Taylor Resident Scholar in Health Care and Retirement Policy at the American Enterprise Institute.

As patients start chemotherapy to treat their cancer, they are educated on the side effects, particularly neutropenia, said Beth Wittmer, RN, OCN, manager of care management at Florida Cancer Specialists and Research Institute.

This administration is very focused on pharmaceutical pricing, explained Dan Mendelson, MPP, founder, Avalere Health.

Family physicians and internists, as well as emergency medicine and critical care medicine have the highest rates of clinician burnout, said W. Clay Jackson, MD, DipTh, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry, department of family medicine, University of Tennessee College of Medicine.

Thorvardur Halfdanarson, MD, associate professor of medicine and consultant in medical oncology, Mayo Clinic, outlines the biggest management challenges in neuroendocrine tumors (NETs).