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Kenneth H. Shain, MD, PhD, discusses the evolution of treatment for patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma and how physicians are leveraging data with chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy and minimal residual disease negativity to improve outcomes.

We headed to Tampa, Florida for a State of the Science Summit on Hematologic Malignancies. The meeting covered updates in follicular lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, mantle cell lymphoma, multiple myeloma, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, chronic myeloid leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia, myeloproliferative neoplasms, and CAR T-cell therapy.

The first patient has been treated in a phase 2b dose-confirmation study of AMT-061, an investigational gene therapy for the treatment of patients with severe and moderately severe hemophilia B. Once the dosing of AMT-061 is confirmed, the safety and efficacy of the therapy will be evaluated in the global phase 3 HOPE-B clinical trial.

During a meeting of the Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee (MEDCAC), panelists heard from chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T therapy drug makers, health researchers, and policy makers, and mostly endorsed including patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in its final national coverage analysis decision, expected next year.

The first chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy was approved just a year ago, changing the face of treatment for certain types of leukemias and lymphomas but carrying with it the downsides of toxicity and cost. A year later, scientists from a major cancer center said that they’ve made headway to discovering more about the T-cell signaling patterns and that understanding more about the biological pathways could help design the next generation of CAR-T treatments.

The FDA has approved Bristol-Meyers Squibb Company’s nivolumab (Opdivo) for the treatment of metastatic small cell lung cancer (SCLC) that has progressed after platinum-based chemotherapy and at least 1 other line of therapy.