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3 Insights from a Clinical Trial Patient
The road to finding new and better cancer treatments often includes an important step: clinical trials. For patients with hard-to-treat diseases, these studies can be superhighways to the right treatment. A clinical trial can tell oncologists whether a new treatment works, how certain cancer types affect the body, and more.
Ibrutinib
Ibrutinib has been FDA-approved to treat:
- Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)/small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL).
- Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) with 17p deletion.
- Patients with Waldenström macroglobulinemia (WM).
- Adult and pediatric patients age 1 year and older with chronic graft versus host disease (cGVHD) after failure of one or more lines of systemic therapy.
5 Reasons why I’m grateful for LLS Volunteers
It’s National Volunteer Week, and I want to thank all our LLS volunteers for the time, energy, and commitment you give to our organization in service of blood cancer patients and their families. Through your many acts of kindness, compassion, and generosity, you are helping patients live longer, better lives. All of us at LLS are so grateful for you—all year long.
Another First: FDA Approves Car T-Immunotherapy for Treatment of Aggressive Form of Indolent Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved the CAR T-cell treatment axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta®) for patients with follicular lymphoma (FL) that has returned or worsened despite earlier treatment. FL is the most common slow-growing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and while the disease can generally be managed, reoccurrence is common.
Hawks Legend Surprises Young Fan & Survivor
At 23 years old, Alex Hawkins just started a new job, had a great boyfriend and was an active runner. She spent her free time watching Atlanta Hawks games – she was a fan since she could talk – and enjoying time with her family, chasing around her two nephews while in the midst of helping her sister prepare for a new baby.
After finding an abnormal lump on her neck in 2014, she was diagnosed with B-Cell Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, stage III.
LLS-Funded Study Aims to Support Caregivers
This year, LLS received a three-year grant to fund a new intervention study by Carma Bylund, PhD, University of Florida, and her research team that aims to improve family and healthcare communication among adults who care for a parent with blood cancer. This work builds upon in-depth qualitative research completed by Dr. Bylund and LLS in 2018, which identified unique communication challenges faced by these caregivers. Both research studies were funded by the Carolan Research Institute. We sat down with Dr. Bylund to ask her about her work…
Struggling with Weight Gain During Treatment
Unplanned weight gain is not usually discussed as a side effect of cancer treatment, but when it happens, a patient can experience other possible negative effects.
3 Things You Might Like to Know About Being Newly Diagnosed
A cancer diagnosis is a pivotal moment in a person’s lifetime.
From that point forward, it’s a part of who you are. It shapes how you think about the world—through the lens of your diagnosis and what’s important to you.
Zebrafish: A New Way to Study Leukemia
David Traver, Ph.D., a professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, is the recipient of an LLS Career Development Program (CDP) grant. Traver’s research laboratory is using the zebrafish as a model to study the biology of cancer.
Another Win for Lymphoma Patients
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s latest approval of a blood cancer therapy is encouraging news for a group of lymphoma patients with a very rare subset of the disease called primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma (PMBCL). The approval is for patients who have relapsed after two or more prior lines of therapy or who did not respond to therapy at all.
FDA Approves First CAR T-Immunotherapy for Relapsed/Refractory Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced approval of brexucabtagene autoleucel (Tecartus®) as the first and only CAR T-cell treatment for adults with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Roughly half of all ALL cases occur in adults, and unlike pediatric ALL, adults have historically had a poor prognosis. This approval, which follows an FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designation and priority review, is a meaningful advance for these patients.
Another Option: Clinical Trials
A blood cancer diagnosis typically leads one to an oncologist or hematologist, a cancer center and a conversation about available treatment options. One option that is not always presented is that of being part of a research study.
A Starting Place to Prioritize Your Mental Health
Coping with a blood cancer diagnosis and the whirlwind of experiences that follows can be physically, mentally, and emotionally draining for everyone impacted by it.
Whether you're a patient or caregiver, you begin to realize your life will never be the same.
Champions in myeloma research, Part 2: A conversation with Suzanne Lentzsch, M.D., Ph.D.
To commemorate both Myeloma Awareness Month and Women’s History Month during March, I’ve been talking with LLS-funded women scientists who are driving discovery for myeloma patients. As we close out the month and my two-part series on myeloma researchers, I’m excited to share my recent conversation with Suzanne Lentzsch, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Medicine and the Director of the Multiple Myeloma and Amyloidosis Program at Columbia University.