COVID-19: How Effective Are the Repurposed Drugs and Novel Agents in Treating the Infection?

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) induced by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has impacted the lives and wellbeing of many people. This globally widespread disease poses a significant public health concern that urges to discover an effective treatment. This review paper discusses the effectiveness of repurposed drugs used to treat COVID-19 and potential novel therapies for COVID-19. Among the various repurposed drugs, remdesivir is the only agent approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat COVID-19. On the other hand, several drugs have been listed in the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the FDA to treat COVID-19, including casirivimab and imdevimab, baricitinib (in combination with remdesivir), bamlanivimab, tocilizumab, and IL-6 inhibitors. In addition, in vitro and clinical studies have suggested cepharanthine, sotrovimab, and XAV-19 as potential treatments to manage COVID-19. Due to inadequate understanding of COVID- 19 and the rapid mutation of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 remains a threat to global public health, with vaccination considered the most effective method to decrease COVID-19 transmission currently. Nevertheless, with the intense efforts of clinical researchers globally, more promising treatments for COVID-19 will be established in the future.

Teleconsultation for Thyroid Disorders: Different Perceptions between Clinicians and Patients

OBJECTIVE: Teleconsultation has gained traction in the past decade. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated its uptake worldwide. Clinic visits for thyroid disorders includemany routine tasks that may be carried out remotely, and seldom involve intervention procedures. Our study aims to understand clinicians' and patients' perception of teleconsultation for thyroid disorders, in consideration of the barriers and facilitators to sustainable adoption beyond the pandemic. METHOD(S): This is a cross-sectional survey study. Clinicians at a tertiary hospital completed a survey on the suitability of teleconsultation for specific clinic tasks, and an adapted Technological Acceptance Model (TAM) questionnaire scored on a 7-point scale. Patients with thyroid disorders completed the Telemedicine Perception Questionnaire (TMPQ) scored on a 5-point scale. RESULT(S): Thirty-four clinicians (attending specialists:50%;fellows and junior doctors:50%) completed the questionnaire. Review of thyroid ultrasound results (73.5%) and blood tests results (61.8%) were tasks deemed most suitable for teleconsultation. 85.3% of clinicians felt that bad news should not be conveyed remotely. There were no significant differences in the responses between senior and junior clinician groups. Clinicians had a moderately positive attitude towards teleconsultation (mean(M) = 5.01 +/- 1.16) and perceived video platforms as easy to use (M= 4.97+/- 0.88). They were ambivalent about the usefulness of teleconsultation (M= 4.55+/- 1.05) and whether they were time-efficient (M= 4.06+/- 1.37). They were equivocal about their intention to use teleconsultation (M= 4.79+/- 1.28). Fifty patients (mean age = 58(+/-13.3) years) with thyroid disorders completed the survey. Patients felt teleconsultation should complement in-person care instead of substituting it completely (M= 3.72+/- 0.73). Patients perceived teleconsultations to be timesaving for both clinicians (M= 3.88+/- 1.16) and themselves (M= 3.86+/- 0.78). Patients also thought teleconsultations reduced costs for hospitals (M= 3.62+/- 0.83). CONCLUSION(S): Clinicians and patients shared a general positive attitude towards teleconsultation. They agreed that teleconsultation is suitable for some clinic tasks, but cannot completely replace inperson care. Patients felt that teleconsultations saved time for both clinicians and themselves, but this view was not shared by clinicians. Further studies should explore the time efficiency and cost effectiveness of teleconsultation for thyroid disorders. This can inform on sustainable adoption of teleconsultation as an alternative mode of service delivery.

Comfort in Telemedicine Based on Diagnosis and Reason for Referral in Pediatric Gastroenterology

Background: Telemedicine can provide increased patient access to care, cost savings and high patient satisfaction. Payors have extended reimbursement for telemedicine and although few pediatric gastroenterologists had experience with telemedicine before the COVID-19 pandemic, many practices continue to offer this as a care modality model. Comfort in practicing telemedicine for specific conditions amongst NASPGHAN members is not known. This study evaluates comfort in practicing telemedicine for common indications for outpatient GI consultation referral and follow up visit diagnoses. Method(s): In June-August 2020, we surveyed members of NASPGHAN with an instrument that included two multi-select questions: 1) Which of the following reasons for referral would you feel comfortable completing with telemedicine? 2) Which of the following conditions would you feel comfortable using telemedicine for a routine follow up? Results: 136 participants answered the two survey items. Constipation (n=121, 89%), heartburn (n=109, 80%), and infant reflux (n=109, 80%) were the reasons for referral most frequently selected. Referral of jaundice (n=26, 19%), second opinion (n=45, 33%), and poor weight gain (n=51, 38%) received the least mentions. For follow up appointments, diagnoses of celiac disease (n=126, 93%), functional gastrointestinal disorders (n=126, 93%), eosinophilic esophagitis (n=120, 88%) were the three most frequent, while liver transplantation (n=24, 18%), intestinal failure (n=26, 19%), and short bowel syndrome without intestinal failure (n=34, 25%) were the diagnoses selected the least. 14 respondents selected comfort with all new patient reasons for referral and follow up visits. Conclusion(s): There is variability in provider comfort to utilize telemedicine for providing consultation or follow up care based on reason for referral or patient diagnosis. Provider comfort in providing care should be considered when offering telemedicine as a practice model moving forward. Reasons underlying provider dis/comfort should be explored using qualitative methods. (Figure Presented).

Efficacy of Oral Decitabine/Cedazuridine (ASTX727) in the CMML Subgroup from the Ascertain Phase 3 Study

text: Background/Introduction: Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia (CMML) is an uncommon MDS/MPN overlap syndrome that has historically been included under the umbrella of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) for clinical trial and treatment. As a result, DNA methyltransferase inhibitors (DNMTi) such as decitabine or azacitidine have been the established standard of care for the treatment of CMML. The oral bioavailability of these agents has been limited due to rapid degradation by cytidine deaminase (CDA) in the gut and liver so treatment has required intravenous infusion or subcutaneous injections daily for 5-7 days every month (m) adding significant burden to older cancer patients due to daily time commitment and travel to treatment centers. In the context of pandemic SARS-CoV-2, parenteral therapy also increases contact with medical settings with increased infection risk. Oral decitabine 35 mg/cedazuridine 100 mg (ASTX727) is an oral fixed dose combination of decitabine and the CDA inhibitor cedazuridine that produced equivalent exposure (99%;90% CI 93% to 106%) to IV decitabine 20 mg/m 2 in a randomized cross-over study (Garcia-Manero et al, ASH 2019), and Median overall survival (mOS) for the entire study population in the ASCERTAIN study was approximately 32 months (Savona, 2021). Here, we present outcome data for this study for the enrolled subpopulation of patients with CMML. Methods: We used a randomized cross over design in which patients were randomized in the first 2 cycles 1:1 to either Sequence A: (decitabine 35 mg/ cedazuridine 100 mg in Cycle 1 followed by IV decitabine at 20 mg/m 2 in Cycle 2), or Sequence B: (IV decitabine in Cycle 1 followed by oral decitabine/cedazuridine in Cycle 2). We conducted an intra-patient comparison of decitabine PK (primary PK endpoint: decitabine AUC equivalence over 5 days of dosing). Cycles were repeated every 28 days (unless delays were needed). All patients received oral decitabine/cedazuridine in Cycles 3 and above until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients were eligible per the FDA-approved label of IV decitabine (MDS patients by FAB classification including CMML, or MDS IPSS Intermediate-1, 2 or high-risk patients). Clinical endpoints were best response according to International Working Group (IWG) 2006 response criteria, transfusion independence for at least 8 or 16 consecutive weeks, overall survival, and safety. Adverse events (AEs) were graded by Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) v 4.03. Results: Of the 133 patients enrolled and treated in ASCERTAIN, 16 (12%) had a diagnosis of CMML with demographics and as follows: median age 71.5 years, 69% Male/31% Female, median weight 87kg (range 65-124), 25% ECOG 0, 75% ECOG 1. Population disease characteristics were: 19% poor or intermediate risk cytogenetics, with median baseline hemoglobin 90 g/L, neutrophils 1.27 X 10 9/L, platelets 84 x 10 9/L, bone marrow blasts 5%, with 38% RBC transfusion dependent. Patients received a median of 7 cycles of therapy (range 3-24). Treatment-emergent adverse events of CTCAE Grade 3 or higher in > 10% of patients, independent of relationship to ASTX727, were cytopenias (neutropenia [69%], thrombocytopenia [63%], anemia [56%], leukopenia [19%]), febrile neutropenia (31%), fatigue (13%). Two patients (12.5%) had Complete Responses (CR), 8 (50%) had marrow CR ([mCR], including 3 (19%) with hematologic improvement (HI);Overall Response rate (ORR) [CR + PR+ mCR + HI] was 75%. Of six patients with baseline RBC transfusion dependence 3 (50%) became transfusion independent. Leukemia-free survival was 28.2 months and after a median follow up of more than 33 months, median overall survival had not been reached. Two patients (13%) went on to Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (HCT). Conclusions: In the overall study, oral decitabine/cedazuridine delivered equivalent PK exposure to 5 days of IV decitabine 20mg/m 2 with a resultant clinical activity safety and efficacy profile in CMML patients consistent with the published literature (e.g Zeidan, et a 2017) and the Phase 2 experience. The use of oral decitabine/cedazuridine is a reasonable approach in CMML patients. References: Garcia-Manero, et al ASH 2019 Savona, et al, Int. MDS Symposium, 2021 Zeidan, et al, Cancer 2017: 3754-3762. [Formula presented] Disclosures: Savona: Geron: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;CTI: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Karyopharm: Consultancy, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;BMS-Celgene: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;NOVARTIS: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Ryvu: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Sierra Oncology: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Taiho: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;TG Therapeutics: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding;Takeda: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding;ALX Oncology: Research Funding;Astex: Research Funding;Incyte: Research Funding. McCloskey: Pfizer: Consultancy;Takeda: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau;Incyte: Speakers Bureau;Novartis: Consultancy;COTA: Other: Equity Ownership;BMS: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Amgen: Speakers Bureau;Jazz: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau. Griffiths: Boston Biomedical: Consultancy;Celgene/Bristol-Myers Squibb: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding;Abbvie: Consultancy, Honoraria;Taiho Oncology: Consultancy, Honoraria;Genentech: Research Funding;Astex Pharmaceuticals: Honoraria, Research Funding;Takeda Oncology: Consultancy, Honoraria;Novartis: Honoraria;Apellis Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding;Alexion Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Research Funding. Yee: Novartis: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding;Forma Therapeutics: Research Funding;Geron: Research Funding;Shattuck Labs: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Bristol-Myers Squibb/Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;F. Hoffmann La Roche: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding;AbbVie: Honoraria;Janssen: Research Funding;Onconova: Research Funding;Genentech: Research Funding;Otsuka: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;MedImmune: Research Funding;Jazz: Research Funding;Astex: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding;Tolero: Research Funding;Takeda: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;TaiHo: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Pfizer: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Paladin: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Zeidan: BeyondSpring: Consultancy;Janssen: Consultancy;Boehringer Ingelheim: Consultancy, Research Funding;BioCryst: Other: Clinical Trial Committees;AstraZeneca: Consultancy;Pfizer: Other: Travel support, Research Funding;Kura: Consultancy, Other: Clinical Trial Committees;Incyte: Consultancy, Research Funding;Ionis: Consultancy;Daiichi Sankyo: Consultancy;Epizyme: Consultancy;Novartis: Consultancy, Other: Clinical Trial Committees, Travel support, Research Funding;Loxo Oncology: Consultancy, Other: Clinical Trial Committees;Genentech: Consultancy;Geron: Other: Clinical Trial Committees;Cardiff Oncology: Consultancy, Other: Travel support, Research Funding;BMS: Consultancy, Other: Clinical Trial Committees, Research Funding;Gilead: Consultancy, Other: Clinical Trial Committees;Aprea: Consultancy, Research Funding;Astellas: Consultancy;Astex: Research Funding;Jazz: Consultancy;Jasper: Consu tancy;Amgen: Consultancy, Research Funding;Agios: Consultancy;ADC Therapeutics: Research Funding;Acceleron: Consultancy, Research Funding;AbbVie: Consultancy, Other: Clinical Trial Committees, Research Funding. Al-Kali: Novartis: Research Funding;Astex: Other: Research support to institution. Patel: Agios: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Celgene-BMS: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;PVI: Honoraria. Sabloff: Takeda: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;BMS: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Astellas: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Novartis: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;TaiHo: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Jaxx: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Abbvie: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Pfizer: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;ROCHE: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Dao: Astex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.: Current Employment. Fazal: Janssen Oncology: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Taiho Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Gilead Sciences: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Agios: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Sanofi Genzyme: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Glaxo Smith Kline: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;AMGEN: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Incyte: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Jazz Pharmaceuticals:Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Bristol Myers Squibb: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Stemline Therapeutics: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Karyopharm Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau. Odenike: Celgene, Incyte, AstraZeneca, Astex, NS Pharma, AbbVie, Gilead, Janssen, Oncotherapy, Agios, CTI/Baxalta, Aprea: Research Funding;AbbVie, Celgene, Impact Biomedicines, Novartis, Taiho Oncology, Takeda: Consultancy. Kantarjian: Ipsen Pharmaceuticals: Honoraria;Astra Zeneca: Honoraria;Astellas Health: Honoraria;Aptitude Health: Honoraria;Pfizer: Honoraria, Research Funding;Novartis: Honoraria, Research Funding;Jazz: Research Funding;Immunogen: Research Funding;Daiichi-Sankyo: Research Funding;BMS: Research Funding;Ascentage: Research Funding;Amgen: Honoraria, Research Funding;AbbVie: Honoraria, Research Funding;KAHR Medical Ltd: Honoraria;NOVA Research: Honoraria;Precision Biosciences: Honoraria;Taiho Pharmaceutical Canada: Honoraria. DeZern: Bristol-Myers Squibb: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Novartis: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Taiho: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Takeda: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Roboz: Janssen: Research Funding;AbbVie: Consultancy;Actinium: Consultancy;Agios: Consultancy;Amgen: Consultancy;Astex: Consultancy;Astellas: Consultancy;AstraZeneca: Consultancy;Bayer: Consultancy;Blueprint Medicines: Consultancy;Bristol Myers Squibb: Consultancy;Celgene: Consultancy;Daiichi Sankyo: Consultancy;Glaxo SmithKline: Consultancy;Helsinn: Consultancy;Janssen: Consultancy;Jasper Therapeutics: Consultancy;Jazz: Consultancy;MEI Pharma - IDMC Chair: Consultancy;Mesoblast: Consultancy;Novartis: Consultancy;Otsuka: Consultancy;Pfizer: Consultancy;Roche/Genentech: Consultancy. Busque: Novartis: Consultancy. Leber: Novartis: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau;Pfizer: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, peakers Bureau;BMS: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau;Abbvie: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau;AMGEN: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau;TaiHo: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau;Otsuka: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau;Astellas: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau;Jazz: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau. Hao: Astex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.: Current Employment. Keer: Astex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.: Current Employment. Azab: Astex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees.

A brief review on pregnancy risk reasoned to COVID-19

Introduction: Pregnancy is confronted with increased risk for COVID-19 since the expression of immune markers, realized the fact that the immune cells and cytokines, the virtuous understanding of the pathophysiology of the disease reduce maternal deaths. Pregnant women are enfeebled against the immune systems and are at added risk of contracting COVID-19. Indeed, they are at added risk of contracting COVID-19. The studies have proven the similarities between the COVID-19 and pregnancy regard to their immune system marked by a noticeable reduction in lymphocytes and raise in selected proinflammatory cytokines. Purpose: The study aims to conduct a review engine to enhance the knowledge on pathophysiological stirrings of condition in normal pregnancy and COVID-19, which are marked by decreased lymphocytes, NKG2A inhibitory receptors, and increased ACE2, IL-8, IL-10, and IP-10 project the risk for developing COVID-19 in pregnancy. To bring out the awareness on pregnancy vulnerability risk for COVID-19 and its complications. Method: This study is initiated with search engine reviewing previous studies correlating with various aspects of normal pregnancy COVID-19 pathophysiological aspects and COVID attack risk in pregnancy. This study probe through electronic databases such as PubMed, Medline, and Scopus databases using keywords such as Coronavirus Immune marker, Pregnancy Lymphocytes, Natural killer cells, a similar pat physiological condition in pregnancy, and COVID-19, Pregnancy vulnerability risk for COVID-19. Result: Analysed studies have given out fruitful information on pregnancy risk, the corona virus immune markers in pregnancy is seen with reduced lymphocytes, and increase proinflammatory cytokines that depict the similarity in the pathophysiological condition in pregnancy and COVID-19, pave up to pregnancy vulnerability for risk in COVID-19 contraction. Conclusion: This review analysis drawn informative tips for professionals that would be useful in educating patient as a part of preventive measure. © RJPT All right reserved.

Systemic Transformation of Education through Evidence-based Reform (STEER): Results and Lessons Learned

We report here on the implementation over five years of a comprehensive project to improve STEM education at the University of South Florida, a large, public university. The STEER project, funded by NSF-IUSE, seeks to achieve this improvement by (1) advocating and incentivizing the adoption of Evidenced Based Teaching (EBT) methods in STEM courses and (2) facilitating change to a culture in which student-centered learning is valued within research-driven STEM departments. A number of synergistic thrusts have been implemented to support these efforts and include: (1) Facilitating and Incentivizing Adoption of EBT Methods: Faculty can apply for development grants to incorporate EBT methods into their course. They can apply for travel grants to learn more about adopting EBT within their discipline. A peer observation program places STEM faculty from different disciplines into small groups where each member observes a class taught by the others and also a class taught by a separate faculty member versed in one or more EBT approaches. Teaching assistants for STEM laboratory courses are provided training in EBT methods. A new program developed during COVID solicited STEM faculty to produce videos in which they illustrate one or more methods useful in online teaching. (2) Retreats: STEER facilitates departmental retreats in which faculty are guided to fine- tune their curricula and align departmental courses. These retreats include an introduction to EBT methods. STEER also hosts interdisciplinary retreats, in which STEM faculty from various disciplines are grouped and encouraged to explore ways in which their courses can build upon each other. (3) Support for Transfer Students: Faculty from our campus and from our main feeder institution meet to align common courses at the two institutions. Students who have previously transferred from the feeder institution are hired as “STEER Peers”. They advise students who are in the process of transferring, participate in transfer student orientation, and design and deliver workshops on study skills and professional/career development. (4) Creating Momentum for Change: A seminar series attended by faculty, administrators, graduate assistants and advisors brings in nationally known presenters who speak on a variety of topics such as EBT methods, institutional change, and student retention (both overall and for under-represented groups). STEER members facilitate STEM Teaching Workshops sponsored by the university provost. Each year, STEM Scholar Awards are made to several faculty who have successfully applied EBT to their courses. We described many of these thrusts at the 2019 ASEE conference. In this paper, we will focus more on describing the thrusts that have been implemented, or have evolved, since then. Also, as this grant is in its no-cost extension year, we will present results and lessons learned. Specifically, we will address the number of faculty, graduate assistants and undergraduate students directly impacted by each thrust and will quantify, to the extent possible, the effect of that impact. Institutional data related to retention and graduation rates for STEM disciplines over the course of the project will also be presented. Finally, we will discuss lessons learned, with an eye towards helping institutions who are in the early stages of a program like. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021

A Unified Framework for Masked and Mask-Free Face Recognition via Feature Rectification (preprint)

Face recognition under ideal conditions is now considered a well-solved problem with advances in deep learning. Recognizing faces under occlusion, however, still remains a challenge. Existing techniques often fail to recognize faces with both the mouth and nose covered by a mask, which is now very common under the COVID-19 pandemic. Common approaches to tackle this problem include 1) discarding information from the masked regions during recognition and 2) restoring the masked regions before recognition. Very few works considered the consistency between features extracted from masked faces and from their mask-free counterparts. This resulted in models trained for recognizing masked faces often showing degraded performance on mask-free faces. In this paper, we propose a unified framework, named Face Feature Rectification Network (FFR-Net), for recognizing both masked and mask-free faces alike. We introduce rectification blocks to rectify features extracted by a state-of-the-art recognition model, in both spatial and channel dimensions, to minimize the distance between a masked face and its mask-free counterpart in the rectified feature space. Experiments show that our unified framework can learn a rectified feature space for recognizing both masked and mask-free faces effectively, achieving state-of-the-art results. Project code: https://github.com/haoosz/FFR-Net

Oral Decitabine/Cedazuridine in Patients with Lower Risk Myelodysplastic Syndrome: A Longer-Term Follow-up of from the Ascertain Study

[Formula presented] Background/Introduction: Lower-risk (IPSS low risk and Int-1) myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are typically treated supportively to address cytopenias. DNA methyltransferase inhibitors (DNMTi) such as azacitidine and decitabine (DEC) are FDA-approved for higher risk MDS patients (pts), and while the DEC USPI includes IPSS Int-1 pts, it is not widely used in this population. Approved intravenous (IV) or subcutaneous (SC) regimens require 5-7 days of treatment every month burdening older cancer pts due to daily travel and treatment time and may increase potential risk from pandemic SARS-CoV-2 infection. Because DNMTis are rapidly degraded by cytidine deaminase (CDA) in the gut and liver, oral availability has only been recently possible. A randomized study with CC-486, an oral formulation of azacitidine, in the Int-1 population showed a median overall survival (mOS) of approximately 17 months for both placebo and treated patients (Garcia-Manero, 2021). Oral DEC 35 mg/cedazuridine 100 mg (ASTX727) or DEC-C, is an oral fixed dose combination (FDC) of DEC and the CDA inhibitor cedazuridine (CED) resulting in equivalent exposure (99%;90% CI 93% to 106%) to standard IV DEC 20 mg/m 2 for 5 days in an intra-patient randomized cross-over study (Garcia-Manero et al, ASH 2019). Here, we present data on patients with lower risk MDS from that study. Methods: We used a randomized cross over design with pts randomized 1:1 in the first 2 cycles to either Sequence A: (DEC 35 mg/ CED 100 mg in Cycle 1 and IV DEC at 20 mg/m 2 in Cycle 2), or Sequence B (IV DEC in Cycle 1 and oral DEC/CED in Cycle 2). Cycles were repeated every 28 days unless delays were needed, and all patients received oral DEC-C in Cycles 3+ until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. We conducted an intra-patient comparison of DEC PK (DEC AUC equivalence over 5 days of dosing). Pts were eligible as per the FDA-approved label of IV DEC (MDS pts by FAB classification including CMML, or MDS IPSS Intermediate-1, 2 or high-risk pts). Clinical endpoints were best response as assessed by an independent expert panel according to IWG 2006 response criteria, transfusion independence (TI), overall survival (OS), and safety. Results: Of the 133 pts treated in ASCERTAIN, 69 had a diagnosis of lower-risk MDS (93% Int-1, 7% LR). Median age was 70.0 years (range 45-87), 65% were male, median weight was 84 kg (range 50-127), median baseline hematologic parameters were: hemoglobin 89 g/L (range 69.8-146.5), WBCs 1.50 X 10 9/L (range 0.11-7.1), platelets (plt) 86 x 10 9/L (range 5-703), bone marrow blasts 4% (range 0-18), cytogenetics: 7 (10.1%) poor-risk, 21 (30.4%) intermediate risk, 37 (53.6%) better-risk, 4 (5.7%) missing or not evaluable. 27(39%) of the pts were RBC transfusion dependent (TD) and 6 (9%) plt TD. 17 (25%) had received prior MDS treatment, 3% prior DNMTi. Pts received a median of 9 cycles of therapy (range 1-28). Treatment-emergent adverse events of CTCAE Gr 3 or higher in >10% of pts, independent of relationship to ASTX727, included cytopenias (neutropenia [59%], thrombocytopenia [58%], anemia [48%], leukopenia [26%]), febrile neutropenia (32%), and pneumonia (19%). Sixteen pts (23%) achieved Complete Response (CR), 18 (26%) had marrow CR (mCR), including 9 (13%) with hematologic improvement (HI). Overall Response rate (ORR;CR + PR+ mCR + HI) was 57%. Of those RBC or plt TD at baseline, 13 (48%) became RBC TI and 4 (67%) became plt TI. With approximately 32 months of median follow up, neither median leukemia-free survival (mLFS) nor mOS had been reached (Figure 1). Twelve pts (17%) went on to allogeneic stem cell transplant. Conclusions: Oral decitabine/cedazuridine given as a FDC in MDS pts produced equivalent PK exposure to 20 mg/m 2 IV DEC;in lower risk MDS pts with treatment indicated, the agent was generally well-tolerated with prolonged treatment and could result in mLFS and mOS which exceeds 32 months. This FDC and other dosing regimens of oral DEC-C should be further studied in this patient population. References: Garcia-Mane o, et al, ASH 2019 Savona, et al, Int. MDS Symp. 2021 Garcia-Manero, et al, Phase III, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial of CC-486 (Oral Azacitidine) in Patients with Lower-Risk Myelodysplastic Syndromes. J.Clin.Onc. 2021 39:13, 1426-1436 [Formula presented] Disclosures: McCloskey: Pfizer: Consultancy;Jazz: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau;COTA: Other: Equity Ownership;Incyte: Speakers Bureau;Takeda: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau;Novartis: Consultancy;BMS: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Amgen: Speakers Bureau. Griffiths: Alexion Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Research Funding;Abbvie: Consultancy, Honoraria;Taiho Oncology: Consultancy, Honoraria;Genentech: Research Funding;Novartis: Honoraria;Takeda Oncology: Consultancy, Honoraria;Astex Pharmaceuticals: Honoraria, Research Funding;Celgene/Bristol-Myers Squibb: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding;Apellis Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding;Boston Biomedical: Consultancy. Yee: Paladin: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;TaiHo: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Novartis: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding;Genentech: Research Funding;Geron: Research Funding;Janssen: Research Funding;Jazz: Research Funding;MedImmune: Research Funding;Onconova: Research Funding;Tolero: Research Funding;AbbVie: Honoraria;Bristol-Myers Squibb/Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Otsuka: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Shattuck Labs: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Pfizer: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Takeda: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;F. Hoffmann La Roche: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding;Forma Therapeutics: Research Funding;Astex: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding. Zeidan: Novartis: Consultancy, Other: Clinical Trial Committees, Travel support, Research Funding;Genentech: Consultancy;Ionis: Consultancy;Astellas: Consultancy;Epizyme: Consultancy;AbbVie: Consultancy, Other: Clinical Trial Committees, Research Funding;Jasper: Consultancy;Cardiff Oncology: Consultancy, Other: Travel support, Research Funding;BeyondSpring: Consultancy;Loxo Oncology: Consultancy, Other: Clinical Trial Committees;Janssen: Consultancy;Acceleron: Consultancy, Research Funding;AstraZeneca: Consultancy;Kura: Consultancy, Other: Clinical Trial Committees;Gilead: Consultancy, Other: Clinical Trial Committees;Agios: Consultancy;Daiichi Sankyo: Consultancy;Boehringer Ingelheim: Consultancy, Research Funding;Geron: Other: Clinical Trial Committees;BMS: Consultancy, Other: Clinical Trial Committees, Research Funding;BioCryst: Other: Clinical Trial Committees;Pfizer: Other: Travel support, Research Funding;Aprea: Consultancy, Research Funding;ADC Therapeutics: Research Funding;Jazz: Consultancy;Incyte: Consultancy, Research Funding;Amgen: Consultancy, Research Funding;Astex: Research Funding. Al-Kali: Astex: Other: Research support to institution;Novartis: Research Funding. Patel: Celgene-BMS: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;PVI: Honoraria;Agios: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Sabloff: Pfizer: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Novartis: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Astellas: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Takeda: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;ROCHE: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;TaiHo: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Jaxx: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory ommittees;BMS: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Abbvie: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Dao: Astex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.: Current Employment. Fazal: Taiho Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Stemline Therapeutics: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Sanofi Genzyme: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Karyopharm Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Janssen Oncology: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Incyte: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Glaxo Smith Kline: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Gilead Sciences: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Bristol Myers Squibb: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;AMGEN: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Agios: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau;Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau. Odenike: AbbVie, Celgene, Impact Biomedicines, Novartis, Taiho Oncology, Takeda: Consultancy;Celgene, Incyte, AstraZeneca, Astex, NS Pharma, AbbVie, Gilead, Janssen, Oncotherapy, Agios, CTI/Baxalta, Aprea: Research Funding. Kantarjian: AbbVie: Honoraria, Research Funding;Novartis: Honoraria, Research Funding;Ascentage: Research Funding;Pfizer: Honoraria, Research Funding;BMS: Research Funding;Daiichi-Sankyo: Research Funding;Amgen: Honoraria, Research Funding;Ipsen Pharmaceuticals: Honoraria;Jazz: Research Funding;Astellas Health: Honoraria;Immunogen: Research Funding;Astra Zeneca: Honoraria;Aptitude Health: Honoraria;KAHR Medical Ltd: Honoraria;NOVA Research: Honoraria;Precision Biosciences: Honoraria;Taiho Pharmaceutical Canada: Honoraria. DeZern: Takeda: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisorycommittees;Taiho: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Novartis: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Bristol-Myers Squibb: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Roboz: Novartis: Consultancy;Mesoblast: Consultancy;Jasper Therapeutics: Consultancy;Jazz: Consultancy;MEI Pharma - IDMC Chair: Consultancy;Daiichi Sankyo: Consultancy;Otsuka: Consultancy;Bristol Myers Squibb: Consultancy;Blueprint Medicines: Consultancy;Bayer: Consultancy;AstraZeneca: Consultancy;Astellas: Consultancy;Astex: Consultancy;Amgen: Consultancy;Agios: Consultancy;Actinium: Consultancy;AbbVie: Consultancy;Janssen: Research Funding;Celgene: Consultancy;Glaxo SmithKline: Consultancy;Helsinn: Consultancy;Janssen: Consultancy;Pfizer: Consultancy;Roche/Genentech: Consultancy. Busque: Novartis: Consultancy. Leber: Astellas: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau;Otsuka: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau;Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau;TaiHo: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;AMGEN: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau;Abbvie: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau;BMS: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau;Pfizer: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau;Novartis: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau;Jazz: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau. Hao: Astex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.: Current Employment. Keer: Astex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.: Current Employment. Azab: Astex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Savona: Geron: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Karyopharm: Cons ltancy, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;CTI: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;BMS-Celgene: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;NOVARTIS: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Ryvu: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Sierra Oncology: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Taiho: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;TG Therapeutics: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding;Takeda: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding;ALX Oncology: Research Funding;Astex: Research Funding;Incyte: Research Funding.

Safety and Efficacy of Cusatuzumab in Combination with Venetoclax and Azacitidine (CVA) in Patients with Previously Untreated Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) Who Are Not Eligible for Intensive Chemotherapy;An Open-Label, Multicenter, Phase 1b Study

Background: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is driven by aberrant leukemic stem cells (LSCs) that initiate and sustain malignancy. To circumvent resistance to therapy, combination therapies with additive mechanisms of action are needed. CD70, a tumor necrosis factor receptor ligand, and its receptor CD27 are expressed on LSCs and AML blasts, but not on hematopoietic stem cells. Cusatuzumab, a high-affinity humanized monoclonal anti-CD70 antibody, kills CD70-expressing cells by Fc domain-mediated effector functions and is a potent inhibitor of CD70-CD27 signaling. Here we report initial results of a study of cusatuzumab in combination with the current standard of care therapy, venetoclax plus azacitidine (CVA), in patients with untreated AML (de novo or secondary) ineligible for intensive chemotherapy due to age ≥75 years or medical comorbidities. Methods: The primary objective of this open label, multicenter, phase 1b study was to assess safety and tolerability of CVA. Key secondary objectives included response rate per ELN 2017 criteria and time to response. Patients received cusatuzumab 10 or 20 mg/kg IV on Day 3 and Day 17, a 3-day ramp-up of venetoclax (100, 200, and 400 mg PO) followed by 400 mg daily dosing, and azacitidine 75 mg/m 2 SC or IV on Days 1-7 of each 28-day cycle. Results: Based on data through Jul 9, 2021, 44 patients enrolled with median age 75 years (range 32-89), 36.4% had secondary AML, 40.9% had an ECOG performance status of 2, and ELN risk was favorable, intermediate and adverse in 18.2%, 20.5% and 61.4%, respectively. All patients received 20 mg/kg cusatuzumab except for 3 patients who received a starting dose of 10 mg/kg with the option to escalate to 20 mg/kg. Of these 3 patients, 1 escalated to 20 mg/kg. At a median follow-up of 29.1 weeks, the median number of treatment cycles was 4.0 (range 1.0-11.0). Grade 3 or above TEAEs were reported in 97.7% of patients;the most common (reported in ≥10%) were neutropenia (68.2%), thrombocytopenia (65.9%), febrile neutropenia (36.4%), anemia (34.1%), leukopenia (29.5%), sepsis (27.3%), and lymphopenia (15.9%). Treatment-emergent serious adverse events (SAEs) were reported in 75% of patients;the most common (reported in at least ≥5%) were febrile neutropenia (27.3%), sepsis (22.7%), COVID-19 (6.8%), and thrombocytopenia (6.8%). Treatment-emergent SAEs of grade ≥3 were reported in 72.7% of the patients. Infusion-related reactions (IRRs) were reported for 11.4% of patients with 2.3% at grade ≥3. Six (13.6%) patients discontinued treatment due to AEs, and 5 (11.4%) TEAEs resulted in death. The mortality rate within 30 days from start of treatment was 4.5%. Table 1 summarizes best response to study treatment. In the intent-to-treat analysis set (n=44) complete remission (CR) rate was 45.5%, while CR + CR with partial hematologic recovery (CRh) + CR with incomplete hematologic recovery (CRi) was 77.3%;MLFS was observed in 11.4% of patients. Of 34 responders (defined as CR, CRi or CRh), 47% were MRD negative by flow cytometry at or after achievement of response. Median time to first response for patients who achieved CR, CRh or CRi was 4.21 (3.0-25.0) weeks. Best response rates in the post-hoc response evaluable analysis set (n=42) that excluded two patients who died before the first disease evaluation were: CR in 47.6%, CR + CRh + CRi in 81.0% and MLFS in 11.9% of patients (Table 1). The majority (97.1%) of responders experienced at least one cycle delay in administration of CVA post response. Conclusions: Cusatuzumab administered in combination with venetoclax and azacitidine to elderly patients with untreated AML was generally well tolerated and demonstrated a safety profile consistent with that previously reported with venetoclax-azacitidine, with the addition of generally manageable IRRs. Response rates support an additive effect of cusatuzumab to the standard of care with potential for improved clinical outcomes. However, further clinical trials are needed for validation of these initial results. HK and GB contributed equally to this publ cation. [Formula presented] Disclosures: Roboz: AstraZeneca: Consultancy;Janssen: Research Funding;Bristol Myers Squibb: Consultancy;Jasper Therapeutics: Consultancy;Agios: Consultancy;Novartis: Consultancy;Amgen: Consultancy;Blueprint Medicines: Consultancy;Janssen: Consultancy;Helsinn: Consultancy;Daiichi Sankyo: Consultancy;Glaxo SmithKline: Consultancy;Celgene: Consultancy;Jazz: Consultancy;MEI Pharma - IDMC Chair: Consultancy;Mesoblast: Consultancy;Actinium: Consultancy;AbbVie: Consultancy;Astex: Consultancy;Bayer: Consultancy;Astellas: Consultancy;Roche/Genentech: Consultancy;Pfizer: Consultancy;Otsuka: Consultancy. Aribi: Seagen: Consultancy. Brandwein: Astellas: Honoraria;Jazz: Honoraria;Amgen: Honoraria;Taiho: Honoraria;BMS/Celgene: Honoraria;Pfizer: Honoraria;Abbvie: Honoraria;University of Alberta: Current Employment. Döhner: Astellas: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding;AstraZeneca: Consultancy, Honoraria;Berlin-Chemie: Consultancy, Honoraria;Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding;Abbvie: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding;Agios: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding;Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding;GEMoaB: Consultancy, Honoraria;Helsinn: Consultancy, Honoraria;Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria;Jazz: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding;Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding;Oxford Biomedicals: Consultancy, Honoraria;Pfizer: Research Funding;Roche: Consultancy, Honoraria;Gilead: Consultancy, Honoraria;Bristol Myers Squibb: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding;Astex: Consultancy, Honoraria;Ulm University Hospital: Current Employment. Fiedler: Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Other: support for meeting attendance;Abbvie: Consultancy, Honoraria;Morphosys: Consultancy;Celgene: Consultancy;Pfizer: Consultancy, Research Funding;Novartis: Consultancy;ARIAD/Incyte: Consultancy;Amgen: Consultancy, Other: support for meeting attendance, Patents & Royalties, Research Funding;Servier: Consultancy, Other: support for meeting attendance;Daiichi Sankyo: Consultancy, Other: support for meeting attendance;Stemline: Consultancy. Gandini: argenx: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company, Divested equity in a private or publicly-traded company in the past 24 months. Geddes: University of Calgary: Current Employment;Taiho: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Jazz: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Pfizer: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Novartis: Consultancy;BMS: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau;Celgene: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Amgen: Consultancy;Paladin: Consultancy;Janssen: Research Funding;Geron: Research Funding;Abbvie: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding. Hou: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Hillman Cancer Centers: Current Employment;AbbVie: Honoraria;AstraZeneca: Honoraria;Karyopharm: Honoraria;Chinese American Hematology Oncology Network: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Howes: Janssen R&D, part of Johnson & Johnson: Current Employment;Johnson & Johnson: Current holder of individual stocks in a privately-held company, Current holder of stock options in a privately-held company. Hultberg: argenx: Current Employment, Patents & Royalties. Huselton: University of Rochester: Current Employment. Jacobs: Argenx BV: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company;University of Antwerp: Ended employment in the past 24 months. Kane: Janssen R&D, part of Johnson & Johnson: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Lech-Marańda: Takeda: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;AbbVie: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors r advisory committees;Novartis: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Roche: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Janssen-Cilag: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Amgen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Sanofi: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Gilead: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding. Louwers: argenx: Current Employment, Patents & Royalties: Patents (no royalties). Nottage: Janssen R&D, part of Johnson & Johnson: Current Employment;Johnson & Johnson: Current holder of individual stocks in a privately-held company, Current holder of stock options in a privately-held company. Platzbecker: Novartis: Honoraria;AbbVie: Honoraria;Janssen: Honoraria;Celgene/BMS: Honoraria;Geron: Honoraria;Takeda: Honoraria. Rampal: Pharmaessentia: Consultancy;BMS/Celgene: Consultancy;Abbvie: Consultancy;Sierra Oncology: Consultancy;Incyte: Consultancy, Research Funding;Blueprint: Consultancy;Disc Medicine: Consultancy;Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy;Constellation: Research Funding;Kartos: Consultancy;Stemline: Consultancy, Research Funding;CTI: Consultancy;Novartis: Consultancy;Memorial Sloan Kettering: Current Employment. Salman: Janssen: Current Employment, Current holder of individual stocks in a privately-held company, Current holder of stock options in a privately-held company. Shah: Janssen R&D, part of Johnson & Johnson: Current Employment. Stuart: Clinical Drug Development Consultants LLC: Current Employment;Argenx: Consultancy;Cleave Therapeutics: Consultancy;Triphase Accelerator Corp: Consultancy;IgM Biosciences: Consultancy;Revolution Medicines: Consultancy;Jiya Corp:Consultancy;Geron Corp: Current holder of individual stocks in a privately-held company. Subklewe: Janssen: Consultancy;Pfizer: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau;Takeda: Speakers Bureau;Klinikum der Universität München: Current Employment;MorphoSys: Research Funding;Novartis: Consultancy, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau;Roche: Research Funding;Seattle Genetics: Consultancy, Research Funding;Miltenyi: Research Funding;Gilead: Consultancy, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau;Amgen: Consultancy, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau;BMS/Celgene: Consultancy, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau. Sumbul: argenx: Current Employment. Wang: Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Advisory board;Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Advisory Board;Astellas: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Stemline Therapeutics: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Advisory board, Speakers Bureau;AbbVie: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Kite Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Advisory Board;GlaxoSmithKline: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Advisory Board;Genentech: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;BMS/Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;DAVA Oncology: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau;Kura Oncology: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Advisory board, steering committee, Speakers Bureau;Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Advisory Board;Mana Therapeutics: Consultancy, Honoraria;Pfizer: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Advisory Board, Speakers Bureau;Rafael Pharmaceuticals: Other: Data safety monitoring committee;Gilead: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Advisory board;Daiichi Sankyo: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Advisory board;PTC Therapeutics: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Advisory board;Genentech: Consultancy;MacroGenics: Consultancy. Wierzbowska: Jazz: Research Funding;Pfizer: Honoraria;Janssen: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Novartis: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Astellas: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory comm ttees;Abbvie: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;BMS: Honoraria. Yao: Statagize LLC: Current Employment;Puma Biotechnology, Inc.: Ended employment in the past 24 months;Argenx: Consultancy. Yee: Astex: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding;Janssen: Research Funding;TaiHo: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Otsuka: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Onconova: Research Funding;Pfizer: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Tolero: Research Funding;Novartis: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding;Paladin: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;MedImmune: Research Funding;AbbVie: Honoraria;Bristol-Myers Squibb/Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Shattuck Labs: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Forma Therapeutics: Research Funding;Takeda: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Geron: Research Funding;Genentech: Research Funding;F. Hoffmann La Roche: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding;Jazz: Research Funding. Kantarjian: Immunogen: Research Funding;Astra Zeneca: Honoraria;KAHR Medical Ltd: Honoraria;Astellas Health: Honoraria;Pfizer: Honoraria, Research Funding;NOVA Research: Honoraria;Ascentage: Research Funding;Precision Biosciences: Honoraria;Novartis: Honoraria, Research Funding;Aptitude Health: Honoraria;Ipsen Pharmaceuticals: Honoraria;Jazz: Research Funding;Daiichi-Sankyo: Research Funding;BMS: Research Funding;Amgen: Honoraria, Research Funding;AbbVie: Honoraria, Research Funding;Taiho Pharmaceutical Canada: Honoraria. Borthakur: Protagonist: Consultancy;Ryvu: Research Funding;Astex: Research Funding;GSK: Consultancy;Novartis: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Takeda: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Current Employment;ArgenX: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees.

RBC-Enhance: A Randomized Pilot Feasibility Trial of Red Cell Transfusion Thresholds in Myelodysplastic Syndromes

Background Red blood cell (RBC) transfusion dependence (TD) and anemia are associated with inferior quality of life (QOL) and survival in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). As part of a research programme to identify the optimal transfusion hemoglobin (Hb) threshold that translates into significantly improved QOL, we conducted a pilot randomized study of two transfusion algorithms (liberal versus restrictive) to determine the feasibility of a larger study. This trial was aligned with the REDDS study (ISRCTN26088319, Stanworth et al., BJH 2019) and followed the same pre-defined statistical analysis plan. Methods The study was undertaken at 3 cancer centers (NCT02099669). We included patients with MDS, CMML, low blast AML (20-30%) or myeloproliferative neoplasms who were TD (> 1 RBC/8 weeks x 16 weeks). Patients on disease modifying therapy for > 6 months were permitted only if they had remained stably RBC-TD with a life expectancy of > 3 months. Central randomization was to one of two RBC transfusion strategies over a 12-week period: 1. Restrictive strategy to maintain Hb between 85 and 105g/L. To achieve this, 2 RBC units were transfused when Hb < 85 g/L 2. Liberal strategy to maintain Hb between 110 and 120 g/L. To achieve this, 2 RBC units were transfused when Hb < 105 g/L and 1 unit for Hb 105-110 g/L. The first 4 weeks were considered a run-in period to achieve the target Hb. The primary outcomes of this feasibility study were 1. The percentage compliance of Hb being within or above the target range of the assigned transfusion threshold (after the 4 week run-in). Feasibility was set at 70%. 2. Achievement of at least a 15 g/L difference between the mean pre-transfusion Hb of the liberal and restrictive strategy groups. Secondary outcomes included changes and differences in QOL scores, rates of transfusion reactions and alloimmunizations, overall blood utilization and visit numbers and impact on serum ferritin. The primary analysis was intention to treat. The study was closed early due to COVID-19, with 28 patients randomized of planned 30. Results 30 patients were enrolled over 5 years and 28 patients randomized (n=15, liberal;n=13 restrictive). Median age was 74 (range 58-84), 26/28 had MDS or CMML and there were no significant imbalances in baseline disease and patient characteristics although patients in the restrictive group tended to have lower risk disease (IPSS-R very low + low 69% versus 53% liberal). Compared with the restrictive arm, liberal arm patients had more complete blood counts, were transfused more RBC units (only during the 4-week run-in) and were transfused at shorter intervals (Table 1). There were no differences in adverse events. Over the 12 weeks, the mean Hb value was 90 ± 4 g/L (restrictive) versus 101 ± 4 g/L (liberal), (p <0.0001, Figure 1). The pretransfusion difference was 11.8 g/L (95% CI 9.4-14.3) with mean pre-transfusion Hb values of 98.6 (± 10.6) g/L and 86.7 (± 8.6) in the liberal and restrictive arms respectively. Percentage compliance of pre-transfusion Hb falling within or above the target Hb range was 48% for restrictive patients but only 14% for liberal patients. Adherence with QOL completion (minimum of 4 serial) was 93%. While sample sizes are small and comparisons exploratory, the area under the curve for several serial quality of life scores was numerically higher and the curve more stable for the liberal arm (EQ5D (figure 2), EORTC cognitive and emotional functioning). Similarly, a higher % of patients in the liberal arm achieved pre-defined clinically meaningful increases in several symptom and function domains (emotional, social, fatigue, dyspnea, financial problems). Discussion Whilst our study results did not meet our feasibility endpoints, this small randomized trial in MDS patients demonstrated clinically important differences in mean Hb achievable with different transfusion thresholds. Poor rates of compliance with Hb targets were clearly identified for patients in the liberal arm, suggesting a need to understand the barriers to protocol adherence in this rm prior to embarking on larger trials. Compared with the REDDS trial, we did not document a significant excess of RBC transfusions needed (post run-in period) to maintain the higher Hb threshold. Similar to REDDS, we did observe some signals of improved QOL with a liberal transfusion strategy. A formal analysis of pooled results with REDDS study patients is planned. (Funding, CCSRI grant QOLL-14 and MOSPI Fund 2014). [Formula presented] Disclosures: Buckstein: Novartis: Honoraria;Astex: Honoraria;Celgene: Honoraria;Celgene: Research Funding;Takeda: Research Funding. Prica: seattle genetics: Honoraria;Gilead: Honoraria;astra zeneca: Honoraria. Leber: Amgen: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau;BMS/Celgene: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Abbvie: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau;Pfizer: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau;Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau;Otsuka Pharmaceutical: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Janssen: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Lundbeck: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau;Alexion: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau;Takeda/Palladin: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees;Treadwell: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Chodirker: Hoffman Laroche: Honoraria. Lin: Novartis: Research Funding;Pfizer: Honoraria. Callum: Octapharma: Research Funding;Canadian Blood Services: Research Funding.

The impact of demographic characteristics and road network on the spread of coronavirus pandemic in Rakhine State: Using geospatial techniques

Demographic characteristics give communities information for the past, present and future plan and services. Demographic data and connectivity of road network impact how far people travel and what they do. The spread of COVID-19 cases in the state deals with these data. In the 31st August 2020 COVID-19 confirmed cases across the state had risen to 350 cases. This is more than that of Yangon Region. The researchers are interested in the reasons for that. The aim of the paper is to analyze the interactions between demographic statistics, road network connectivity and the spatial distribution of Pandemic areas. The objectives of the paper are to study the correlations of the townships based on the demographic characteristics and to examine the road network within the State. Secondary data are demographic data, road network database and COVID-19 confirmed cases in Rakhine State. Factor analysis and road network connectivity have been carried out in IBM SPSS and in ArcMap. The results of theoretical measure and distribution pattern of the cases show that townships included in the factor 1 and 2 have fewer confirmed cases than the other townships in factor 3, 4 and 5. Townships that have the same communities and accessibility chance have the same situation of lower or greater risk. © 2020 ACRS 2020 - 41st Asian Conference on Remote Sensing. All rights reserved.