5 Key Interviews, Sessions at the 2024 ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition

Pharmacy Times® will be live in San Diego, California for coverage of the 66th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, which takes place December 7 through December 10.

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At each ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition, thousands gather for discussions and presentations on the most up-to-date news and trends in hematology, with hundreds of sessions offered and countless abstracts presented on emerging drugs, new data, and other insights in the field. Pharmacy Times will be covering late-breaking abstracts, clinical trial updates, and new data presented on multiple myeloma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, follicular lymphoma, and graft-versus-host disease, as well as news on advances in minimal residual disease (MRD) detection, bispecifics, and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies.

Stay tuned to PharmacyTimes.com and to our social media channels for exclusive coverage of these sessions and conversations with experts, with highlights including:

• An interview with Jose Tinajero, PharmD, BCOP, highlighting the key aspects of an investigation on the increased risk of CD19-negative (CD19–) relapse due to TP53 mutations following blinatumomab (Blincyto; Amgen) in adults with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). Despite its effectiveness, treatment failure is common with blinatumomab, and the mechanisms behind the emergence of CD19– disease has remained undiscovered. In this investigation–set to be presented December 9–leukemia biology was examined as a potential predictor for patterns of blinatumomab failure following treatment response. Coverage will include the implications of these findings for pharmacists and treatment providers regarding the current management of B-ALL, and how the certain genetic factors that influence response to blinatumomab can be optimized to improve patient care.
• An article on a session titled “Interrogating the Impact of the Intestinal Microbiome on Transplant and Cellular Therapies,” which will be presented on Sunday, December 8, 2024, will address how alterations in the intestinal microbiome may be linked to treatment responses and outcomes following allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation and CAR T-cell therapy. Presenters will be particularly focusing on factors that alter the intestinal microbiome in recipients of these cellular therapies, including diet and antibiotic exposure.
• Exclusive interviews with Rakesh Popat, MBBS, PhD and Yi Lin, MD, PhD on their investigation comparing minimum residual disease (MRD) negativity after treatment with ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel, Carvykti; Janssen Biotech, Inc) vs standard care in patients with lenalidomide (Revlimid; Bristol Myers Squibb)-refractory multiple myeloma. Cilta-cel has become an FDA-approved treatment for relapsed/refractory (R/R) multiple myeloma, based on the results of the phase 3 CARTITUDE-4 trial (NCT04181827). Long-term MRD negativity, a prognostic marker for prolonged survival outcomes in this population, had yet to be studied in the CARTITUDE-4 population. We’ll be asking what pharmacists need to know about the benefits of cilta-cel in this population, and what future trials may look to assess.
• An article covering presentations on the role of MRD in the management of multiple myeloma will explore the potential to discontinue lenalidomide maintenance therapy after sustained MRD negativity, the implications of MRD progression following quadruplet therapy and autologous stem cell transplantation, and the impact of MRD on progression-free survival in newly diagnosed patients. The session is titled “Multiple Myeloma: Clinical and Epidemiological: Advancing MRD: Detection, Impact on Prognosis and Treatment Decisions,” and it will be presented on Saturday, December 7.
• Jiasheng Wang, MD, will discuss his presentation on the real-world trends of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and neurologic events among patients being treated with axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel, Yescarta; Kite Pharma, Inc) for R/R large B-cell lymphoma in the United States. The presentation, which will be presented on December 8 during an oral session on CAR T-cell therapy for lymphoma, seeks to characterize the nature of axi-cel’s toxicity profile, especially as the management of these toxicities has continued to improve. We’ll be asking how these trends may alter the overall risk-benefit profile of axi-cel therapy, especially for those with comorbidities. Additionally, we’ll discuss how these changes in trends can impact health care resource utilization among pharmacists and patient outcomes.

Coverage will continue throughout the duration of the conference, so follow our website and social media for the latest updates from the ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition.