Novel therapeutic agents presented at ASH provide hope for patients with hard-to-treat blood disorders

Encouraging safety and efficacy data on novel and emerging therapies presented at the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), which is taking place in Atlanta, signal an important step forward in the development of treatment strategies for patients with hard-to-treat leukemia, myeloma, and myelofibrosis.

Ongoing discoveries of critical molecular markers, pathways, and other drivers of some of the most difficult-to-treat forms of blood cancer have provided unprecedented opportunities for the development of new targeted therapies that attack, block, and silence the deadly genetic mutations that cause these disorders. These insights are revolutionizing how hematologists treat patients with resistant disease who otherwise had few options.

"The significant drug discovery advances presented [December 9] represent our continued progress in fighting resistant disease, identifying and disabling cancer gene signaling, and improving outcomes in patients who struggle with poor prognoses and few treatment options," said Aaron Schimmer, moderator of the press conference and Clinician Scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network in Toronto.