ASH News Daily - Saturday, December 10, 2011 - (Page A-14)

Page A–14 ® ALL Efficacy and Toxicity — Is There a Sweet Spot in ALL? By BarBara pro, Md T he goal of our fight against cancer is finding the MELTing (most-effective-least-toxic) potion. Thus, moving away from standard “kill-all” drugs to “spareme” targeted agents have been most of the focus of cancer research in the last few decades. Also, as patients live longer, we struggle with a number of issues due to treatment-related short- and long-term toxicities and look back and ask ourselves: How can we make it better? Is there a sweet spot of increased efficacy and minimal toxicity? This morning at 7:30 a.m. and again at 2:00 p.m. in Elizabeth Ballroom EFGH, Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego, Dr. Adele Fielding, University College London, will chair an Education Program session titled “Current Management Issues in Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia,” outlining the most current and pressing issues in the treatment of ALL. For pediatric ALL the good news is that survival has increased dramatically with five-year rates exceeding 90 percent. The bad news is that success has come with a price. Chronic health issues, secondary cancers, and significant emotional hurdles for both patients and caregivers are only a few of the many issues we are left to deal with. Dr. Leslie Robinson, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, will present the most current information on key issues associated with early morbidity and mortality in childhood ALL survivors. Most importantly, based on recent findings, she will provide recommendations for screening and new directions for interventions to improve long-term outcomes. What about adult ALL? The good news is that there are many new therapies; the bad news is that none of them are fully effective at control- JAK2 «« From Page A-12 the eosinophilic disorders, molecularly defined as PDGFRA, PDGFRB, and FGFR1-associated neoplasms. Dr. James W. Vardiman from the University of Chicago, indicates that the promise of future targeted therapies akin to imatinib played a role in devising the 2008 WHO Classification system. While JAK2 mutations were at once enlightening, they likely represent just the first piece of a very elaborate mosaic. Dr. Landau indicated no relevant conflicts of interest. 003192_sgn35_adc_and_fa2.indd 1 ling this challenging disease. The development of monoclonal antibodies represents one of the greatest success stories in the treatment of hematologic malignancies as it is the ideal targeted therapy. Dr. Dieter Hoelzer, University of Frankfurt, will discuss how the introduction of antibodybased therapies is changing the outcome for patients with ALL. In addition to providing the most current data on the use of traditional antibodies, Dr. Hoelzer will discuss the use of the newer humanized anti-CD20 and bi-specific an- tibodies in the treatment of ALL. Some of the challenges related to the use of antibody-based therapies in different clinical settings will also be addressed. Dr. Fielding will conclude the ses- sion with an update on the treatment of Philadelphia-positive (Ph+) ALL. The Philadelphia chromosome is the most common cytogenetic abnormality associated with adult ALL. Before the introduction of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), Ph+ ALL carried a poor prognosis with poor response to chemotherapy and short survival rates. Treatment with BCR-ABLspecific TKIs has resulted not only in higher complete remission rate and better long-term outcome but also in minimal toxicity. Dr. Fielding will review a number of important issues such as the role of monotherapy with TKIs in select patients, the role of allogeneic stem cell transplantation, and mechanisms of resistance. Results of ongoing studies with novel agents will also be presented. Dr. Pro indicated no relevant conflicts of interest. ASH NEWS DAILY Saturday, December 10, 2011 E N G I N E E R I N G T H E N E X T G E N E R AT I O N O F A N T I B O D Y - D R U G C O N J U G AT E S To learn more about our ADC technology, see our medical affairs representatives at booth 129

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ASH News Daily - Saturday, December 10, 2011

ASH News Daily - Saturday, December 10, 2011

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