Hello Everyone,
Earlier in June I was lucky enough to go to the European Hematology Association (EHA) meeting that was held in London, England.
Some of the top CML experts from the US, Canada, and Europe as well as many other countries attended the conference and there were quite a few sessions on CML.
I learned lots of new information about current research in CML. It was a busy and very hectic 4 days and I have written 21 reports regarding the meeting.
Some of the research covered how up front diagnositc tests could possibly help doctors determine which drug regimen might be better for us to achieve deeper responses. THe main recurring theme trough out the conference was that achieving a MMR or CMR as early as possible in the treatment program offers the patient the best chance at overall survival (OS), Progression Free Survival (PFS) and Event Free Survival (EFS). Importantly Dr. Mahon and many of his colleagues spoke about the stopping TKI trials which are being rapidly expanded in Europe. Dr Mahon even reported the results of his recent trial which has 7 patients who were either intolerant or resistant to Imatinib that were switched to Dasatinib (Sprycel) and have been able to stop the TKI and be monitored for about a year without recurrence of their CML, he also has two patients that were on Nilotinib (Tasigna) sue to intolerance and resistance to Imatinib (Gleevec) and have been able to stop as well.
Many of the reports are technical but you can also read my summary report by following the link. I will also post the summary report in a separate post on this board.
It was a great conference and lots of exciting news and progress is being made!
To read the reports: http://www.cmlsociety.org/?q=node/195
Happy Reading!
