Lymphoma

Two oral health experts offer a thorough exploration of bone marrow transplants and how they relate to the mouth, with many tips for maintaining proper oral care during and after a transplant.

In January 2021, the FDA approved a new indication for Xalkori (crizotinib), an oral ALK inhibitor, for the treatment of young patients who are diagnosed with relapsed or refractory systemic anaplastic large-cell lymphoma and ALK mutation. Xalkori was previously approved for metastatic lung cancer and ALK or ROS1 mutation.

The FDA approved Tecartus as the first gene therapy (or CAR T-cell therapy) for patients with mantle-cell lymphoma, a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, that progressed after previous therapies.

In July 2020, the FDA approved Monjuvi as a new treatment option for patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma whose disease progressed after receiving other therapies.

Treatment with the PD-1 inhibitor Keytruda (permbrolizumab) significantly extended progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma compared with standard treatment with Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin), according to the results of the phase 3 KEYNOTE-204 clinical trial reported at the ASCO 2020 virtual annual meeting.

A total of 80% of patients with relapsed (coming back) or refractory (not responding to therapy) slow-growing (indolent) non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL)—including patients with follicular lymphoma or marginal-zone lymphoma (MZL)—achieved a complete response (no sign of cancer) to Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel), an anti-CD19 CAR T-cell therapy.

Laurie Adami chronicles her long fight with follicular lymphoma, including her run-in with 6 types of therapies. After losing all hope, she finally achieved complete remission with a new immunotherapy called CAR T-cell therapy, and then turned her sights on climbing Mt. Everest to raise money for cancer research.

This article discusses findings from a clinical trial showing that Keytruda prolongs the time without disease progression in patients with relapsed or refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma compared with the current standard of therapy.

Bradford Power took the credibility he had as a patient diagnosed with cancer and used it to fuel his purpose and mission of helping others navigate their cancer diagnosis and treatment.