All Episodes – Page 3

This podcast episode, recorded at ASH 2025, features an interview with María-Victoria Mateos MD PhD, who discusses groundbreaking findings from the Majestec-3 study. The study highlights unprecedented survival benefits with the BCMA/CD3 bispecific antibody teclistamab. In patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, adding teclistamab to standard second-line therapies significantly improved progression-free and overall survival.

This episode features an interview with Erika Hamilton MD at the 2025 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS). Dr. Hamilton discusses findings from the HER2CLIMB-05 trial, showing that adding tucatinib to trastuzumab and pertuzumab significantly improves progression-free survival in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer as first-line maintenance therapy, with no new safety signals. This small molecule HER2 inhibitor offers a promising new option.

Wojciech Jurczak MD PhD discusses research from ASH 2025, revealing that the non-covalent BTK inhibitor pirtobrutinib is superior to bendamustine plus rituximab as initial therapy for untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia and small lymphocytic lymphoma. The BRUIN CLL-313 phase 3 study found pirtobrutinib significantly improved progression-free survival and was well-tolerated. These data suggest pirtobrutinib could become a new standard of care for these patients.

At SABCS 2025, Gaorav Gupta MD PhD presented findings from the TBCRC-053 (P-RAD) study. The research showed that pre-operative radiation therapy significantly increased T-cell infiltration in hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative invasive breast cancer. This novel approach could enhance anti-tumor immunity and boost responses to systemic therapies like immunotherapy and chemotherapy in this common breast cancer subtype.

This episode discusses how the bispecific antibody Epcoritamab, in combination with rituximab and lenalidomide, has outperformed standard treatment for relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma in the phase three epcore FL-1 trial. Dr. Lorenzo Falchi, an attending physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering, was interviewed at the ASH 2025 Annual Meeting, where these significant findings, including improved ORR and PFS, were presented, demonstrating a substantial reduction in the risk of progression or

Dr. Christian F. Singer discusses findings from the ABCSG 18 Study at the 2025 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. The research indicates that post-menopausal women with ER-positive early breast cancer treated with denosumab and aromatase inhibitors show enhanced bone protection and improved long-term outcomes if their tumors are also positive for the progesterone receptor. This suggests PR-positive tumors drive the benefit of adjuvant denosumab.

An interview with Amir Fathi MD from Massachusetts General Hospital discusses the Paradigm study presented at ASH 2025. The phase two randomized trial found that young, fit adults with acute myeloid leukemia had improved event-free survival and higher response rates with azacitidine/venetoclax initial therapy. This gentler treatment also led to fewer toxicities and better quality of life compared to standard induction chemotherapy.

Dr. Jennifer A. Woyach discusses promising phase III study findings at ASH 2025, revealing that the non-covalent BTK inhibitor pirtobrutinib is as effective as ibrutinib, while demonstrating less toxicity, in patients with relapsed/refractory and treatment-naïve chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma. This first randomized head-to-head comparison shows pirtobrutinib met its primary endpoint of non-inferiority for overall response rate.

Alexis Ann LeVee MD presented novel research at the 2025 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. Her team's study, the randomized phase II neoHIP trial, revealed that pre-operative gut microbiome composition predicts pathologic complete response to immune checkpoint inhibition in patients with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer. This highlights the microbiome's crucial role in influencing treatment outcomes for HER2-positive breast cancer.

Meletios Dimopoulos MD, Chair of Clinical Therapeutics at the University of Athens, discusses early findings from the phase 1b LINKER-MM2 trial presented at ASH 2025. The study reveals high clinical response rates for the B-Cell Maturation Antigen bispecific antibody linvoseltamab when combined with anti-CD38 therapy in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. These preliminary safety and efficacy data support further development of this promising combination for MM treatment.

Antonio Jimenez Jimenez MD MS, from the University of Miami, presented findings at ASH 2025 indicating that donor choice is less of a barrier to allogeneic stem cell transplantation for patients with hematologic malignancies. The National Marrow Donor Program Access Trial found that post-transplant cyclophosphamide enables a wider, more ethnically diverse range of patients to safely receive transplants from unrelated donors.

Safna Naozer Virji MBBS FPBS was interviewed at the 2025 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium regarding her study on oncoplastic breast cancer surgery. Her research from Pakistan reported high efficacy and superior psychosocial outcomes for patients in low or middle-income settings. The study demonstrated low margin positivity, excellent long-term survival, and high patient-reported cosmetic satisfaction, supporting broader use of OBS in resource-limited areas.

Dr. Luciano Costa discusses the findings from the CARTITUDE-4 study at the ASH 2025 Annual Meeting in Orlando. The study demonstrates that ciltacabtagene autoleucel CAR-T cell therapy provides significant long-term progression-free survival for patients with standard-risk relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, even as early as second-line treatment. The findings suggest profound benefits in this patient population.

Matteo Lambertini MD PhD discusses new findings from the ALTTO trial at the 2025 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. The long-term analysis reveals that adjuvant aromatase inhibitors lead to superior outcomes, including improved disease-free survival and time to distant recurrence, compared to tamoxifen or other SERMs.

Dr. Jesse Tettero discusses findings from the HARMONY Alliance study, presented at ASH 2025, validating measurable residual disease (MRD) as a robust predictor of overall survival in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. The study supports MRD's potential as a regulatory surrogate endpoint, particularly MFC-MRD in non-transplanted patients, to accelerate drug development. This large pooled analysis provides critical evidence for future AML drug approvals.

Dr. Hisham Abdel-Azim discusses findings from the phase two EndRAD trial, presented at ASH 2025. The study reveals that Next Generation Sequencing-Assessed Minimum Residual Disease (NGS-MRD) can identify young patients with high-risk/relapsed B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Lymphomas (B-ALL) who can safely omit pre-transplant Total Body Irradiation (TBI). This approach achieved comparable survival outcomes while potentially reducing TBI-associated late effects.

A seective estrogen degrader out-performed AI’s in ER+ HER- early breast cancer

Financial Disaster from curative treatment for childhood ALL

Dramatic Cures for Children with No Prospects Using Standard Therapies for T-cell malignancies

Some patients being treated for stage three colon cancer could avoid the use of chemotherapy and be spared toxicities such as neuropathy: according to a study in which ctDNA liquid biopsy monitoring f