News and Treatment Updates
Here's where you'll find a regularly updated, broad range of articles written by the AAMDSIF team, allied health organizations and news organizations. By staying well-informed, patients and families are practicing a form of self-support that will help them be more effective self-advocates when engaging with health care providers.
FDA Approves Ruxolitinib in Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease
Originally Published: 09/22/2021
Article Source: External Web Content
The FDA has approved ruxolitinib (Jakafi) for the treatment of patients 12 years and older with chronic graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) after failure of 1 or 2 lines of systemic therapy, according to a press release by Incyte.
The approval is based on data from the REACH3 trial (NCT03112603), which enrollment of 330 participants.. The primary end point of REACH3 is the efficacy of ruxolitinib versus investigator’s choice of best available therapy (BAT). Secondary end points include rate of failure-free survival (FFS), best overall response, overall response rate (ORR) at the end of cycle 3...
Foundation Update Newsletter for September 2021
Originally Published: 09/21/2021
Article Source: Foundation Update
Return to School Practices for Pediatric Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Recipients During COVID-19 Pandemic
Originally Published: 09/16/2021
Article Source: External Web Content
Abstract
While organizations such as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and American Academy of Pediatrics have published guidelines favoring resumption of in-person schooling during COVID-19 pandemic, there is no specific guidance on hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) recipients’ safety of returning to school. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of pediatric HCT physician members of the Pediatric Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Consortium (PTCTC) practicing in the United States (US) to describe current return to school practices during the COVID-19 pandemic for HCT...
Graft Vs Host Prophylaxis With Posttransplant Cyclophosphamide Not Associated With Increased Infection Risk
Originally Published: 09/09/2021
Article Source: External Web Content
According to the results of a study presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Hematologic Oncology (SOHO), graft vs host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis with posttransplant cyclophosphamide (PTCy) following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) does not appear to be associated with an increased risk in bacterial, viral, or fungal infections.
The investigators sought to characterize the incidence of pre-vaccination infections, including cytomegalovirus (CMV), herpes virus and BK-polyomavirus hemorrhagic cystitis, infection-related mortality, and predictive factors...
Life Expectancy Still Lower for Blood or Marrow Transplant Recipients
Originally Published: 09/09/2021
Article Source: External Web Content
While late mortality among recipients of allogeneic blood or marrow transplantation (BMT) has decreased over the past 4 decades, life expectancy among these patients remains shorter versus the U.S. population at large, a retrospective cohort study found.
Compared with the general population, transplant patients had an 8.8-fold higher risk for all-cause mortality. Overall, the life expectancy of patients who underwent BMT was 20.8% lower than expected, translating into 8.7 years of life lost, reported Smita Bhatia, MD, MPH, of the Institute for Cancer Outcomes and Survivorship at the...
News for You! Foundation Update Newsletter August 2021
Originally Published: 08/17/2021
Article Source: Foundation Update
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: FDA Authorizes Additional Vaccine Dose for Certain Immunocompromised Individuals
Originally Published: 08/12/2021
Article Source: External Web Content
FDA NEWS RELEASE
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: FDA Authorizes Additional Vaccine Dose for Certain Immunocompromised Individuals
Other fully vaccinated individuals do not need an additional vaccine dose right now
For Immediate Release:
August 12, 2021
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration amended the emergency use authorizations (EUAs) for both the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine and the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine to allow for the use of an additional dose in certain immunocompromised individuals, specifically, solid organ transplant recipients or those who are diagnosed with...
Major Health Care Professional Organizations Call for COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates for All Health Workers
Originally Published: 07/26/2021
Article Source: External Web Content
Groups include American Medical Association, American Nurses Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, Association of American Medical Colleges, and National Association for Home Care and Hospice
(July 26, 2021) - With COVID-19 case counts rising amid the spread of the Delta variant, more than 50 health care professional societies and organizations called for all health care employers to require their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in a joint statement released today. These societies and organizations represent millions of workers throughout health and long-term care – from...
What's New? Foundation Update Newsletter July 2021
Originally Published: 07/20/2021
Article Source: Foundation Update
FDA approves belumosudil for chronic graft-versus-host disease
Originally Published: 07/16/2021
Article Source: External Web Content
On July 16, 2021, the Food and Drug Administration approved belumosudil (Rezurock, Kadmon Pharmaceuticals, LLC), a kinase inhibitor, for adult and pediatric patients 12 years and older with chronic graft-versus-host disease (chronic GVHD) after failure of at least two prior lines of systemic therapy.
Efficacy was evaluated in KD025-213 (NCT03640481), a randomized, open-label, multicenter dose-ranging trial that included 65 patients with chronic GVHD who were treated with belumosudil 200 mg taken orally once daily.
The main efficacy outcome measure was overall response rate (ORR) through...