ABSTRACT
Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenge for hospital medical staffs worldwide due to high volumes of patients acutely ill with novel syndromes and prevailing uncertainty regarding optimum supportive and therapeutic interventions. Additionally, the response to this crisis was driven by a plethora of nontraditional information sources, such as email chains, websites, non-peer-reviewed preprints, and press releases. Care patterns became idiosyncratic and often incorporated unproven interventions driven by these nontraditional information sources. This report evaluates the efforts of a health system to create and empower a multidisciplinary committee to develop, implement, and monitor evidence-based, standardized protocols for patients with COVID-19. Method(s): This report describes the composition of the committee, its scope, and its important interactions with the health system pharmacy and therapeutics committee, research teams, and other work groups planning other aspects of COVID-19 management. It illustrates how the committee was used to demonstrate for trainees the process and value of critically examining evidence, even in a chaotic environment. Result(s): Data show successful interventions in reducing excessive ordering of certain laboratory tests, reduction of nonrecommended therapies, and rapid uptake of evidence-based or guidelines-supported interventions. Conclusion(s): A multidisciplinary committee dedicated solely to planning, implementing, and monitoring standard approaches that eventually became evidence-based decision-making led to an improved focus on treatment options and outcomes for COVID-19 patients. Data presented illustrate the attainable success of a committee that is both adaptable and suitable for similar emergencies in the future. Copyright © 2022 Turner White Communications Inc.. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Background: While time-limited novel agent combinations have demonstrated high overall response rates and durable responses for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), they also have high rates of adverse events and possibly overtreat many favorable risk patients. Meanwhile, patients receiving indefinite ibrutinib monotherapy are at risk for cumulative toxicity and acquired resistance with continuous exposure. To address these challenges, we utilized an 'add-on' approach to combination therapy after a period of ibrutinib monotherapy exposure. We examined the addition of umbralisib (a selective PI3Kδ and casein kinase-1epsilon [CK1ϵ] inhibitor) and ublituximab (a novel anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody glycoengineered for enhanced antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity;U2) to ibrutinib in CLL patients with detectable minimal residual disease (MRD) after an initial period of treatment with ibrutinib monotherapy. With this strategy, we aimed to induce undetectable MRD (uMRD), minimize the risk of developing BTKi resistance mutations, stop all CLL-directed therapy, and achieve a durable treatment-free observation (TFO) period in CLL patients who would most benefit from combination therapy. Methods: This is a phase II, multicenter, open label clinical trial (NCT04016805). Eligible patients were receiving ongoing ibrutinib, in any line of therapy, for a minimum duration of 6 months and had detectable residual CLL in the peripheral blood via MRD assay (flow cytometry with a cutoff of 10