Presenter: Neil Shah, MD, PhD, University of California, San Francisco, Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco, California The prognosis is poor for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) who are receiving imatinib (Gleevec, STI-571, Novartis) when their disease progresses to accelerated phase or blast-phase CML. In the START-R trial of CML, which compared imatinib doses, increased [...]

Presenter: Peter Hillmen, MD, Consulting Hematologist, Leeds General Infirmary, Leeds, United Kingdom “Eculizumab is the first treatment that targets intravascular hemolysis, the primary clinical manifestation of PNH (paroxysmal nocturnal hemolysis),” stated Dr. Hillmen. Eculizumab (Soliris, Alexion) is a monoclonal antibody with activity against complement protein C5, a protein that blocks terminal complement activation on red [...]

Presenter: Peter Hillmen, MD, Consulting Hematologist, Leeds General Infirmary, Leeds, United Kingdom In another trial reported by Dr. Hillmen, both response rates and overall survival rates were superior in patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) who received alemtuzumab (Campath, Berlex) instead of the standard treatment, chlorambucil tablet (Leukeran medication, GlaxoSmithKline).

Dexamethasone and Lenalidomide (Revlimid) Effects in Multiple Myeloma Presenter: S. Vincent Rajkumar, MD, Professor of Medicine, Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota In patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) who received combination induction therapy with lenalido-mide (Revlimid, Celgene) and dexamethasone, a lower dose of generic dexamethasone was found to reduce the risk of [...]