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Two independent studies presented at the IASLC 2020 World Conference on Lung Cancer have highlighted the heightened psychological distress experienced by patients with cancer – especially those with lung cancer – during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2-year follow-up results from the phase I/II ZUMA-1 trial of patients with refractory large B-cell lymphoma show that the chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy axicabtagene ciloleucel remains efficacious and manageable in the long term.

Heavily pretreated adults with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma respond well to treatment with the chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy tisagenlecleucel, show results of the pivotal JULIET trial.

Read more on these US FDA and UK NICE approvals here

Patients with follicular lymphoma who achieve a positron emission tomography-determined complete response to induction immunochemotherapy have a significantly better prognosis than those with a non-complete response, research shows.

The oral, dual inhibitor of phosphoinositide 3-kinase-δ and –γ duvelisib significantly delays disease progression or death compared with ofatumumab in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma, data from the DUO trial show.

This month we round-up four hematologic cancer trials, two looking at treatment options for older and younger patients with Hodgkin lymphoma, and two evaluating treatments for smoldering and relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. Read on to find out more.

Phase III trial data have highlighted the value of antimüllerian hormone as a biomarker of ovarian toxicity associated with different chemotherapy regimens for advanced Hodgkin lymphoma.

Pretreatment levels of circulating tumor DNA, as well as changes during therapy, are independently prognostic of outcomes in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and can add to established risk factors, findings indicate.

Treatment-naïve follicular lymphoma patients have similar outcomes regardless of whether they receive lenalidomide or chemotherapy in combination with rituximab, suggest phase III trial findings published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

MAVORIC trial results support the use of the C-C chemokine receptor 4-targeted antibody mogamulizumab over the standard of care vorinostat in previously treated patients with mycosis fungoides or Sézary syndrome.

Phase II trial results suggest that the Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor ibrutinib has high activity and is well tolerated in symptomatic, treatment-naïve patients with Waldenström macroglobulinemia.

Read more on this US FDA decision here

The birth rate for women who are relapse-free after treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma has risen in recent years, becoming comparable with that of the general population regardless of disease stage or treatment.

This month’s round-up covers three studies evaluating clinical trial endpoints, two focusing on endpoints for programmed cell death protein 1 inhibitor trials and one assessing the surrogacy of progression-free survival in the first-line diffuse large B-cell lymphoma setting. Read on for more details.

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Read more on these US FDA decisions here

Treatment with the combination of ibrutinib and rituximab results in better outcomes for patients with newly diagnosed or recurrent Waldenström macroglobulinemia than rituximab alone, phase III trial findings indicate.

The combination of rituximab, gemcitabine, and oxaliplatin has potential for the treatment of older patients with a new diagnosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, suggests a Chinese phase II trial.