Team sponsors in community-based health leadership programs.

Purpose The purpose of this article is to share the lessons learned about the role of team sponsors in action-learning teams as part of community-based health leadership development programs. Design/methodology/approach This case study uses program survey results from fellow participants, action learning coaches and team sponsors to understand the value of sponsors to the teams, the roles they most often filled and the challenges they faced as team sponsors. Findings The extent to which the sponsors were perceived as having contributed to the work of the action learning teams varied greatly from team to team. Most sponsors agreed that they were well informed about their role. The roles sponsors most frequently played were to provide the teams with input and support, serve as a liaison to the community and serve as a sounding board, motivator and cheerleader. The most common challenges or barriers team sponsors faced in this role were keeping engaged in the process, adjusting to the role and feeling disconnected from the program. Practical implications This work provides insights for program developers and community foundations who are interested in building the capacity for health leadership by linking community sponsors with emerging leaders engaged in an action learning experience. Originality/value This work begins to fill a gap in the literature. The role of team sponsors has been studied for single organization work teams but there is a void of understanding about the role of sponsors with multi-organizational teams working to improve health while also learning about leadership.

Mocetinostat for relapsed classical Hodgkin's lymphoma: an open-label, single-arm, phase 2 trial.

BACKGROUND: The prognosis of patients with relapsed Hodgkin's lymphoma, especially those who relapse after stem-cell transplantation, is poor, and the development of new agents for this patient population is an unmet medical need. We tested the safety and efficacy of mocetinostat, an oral isotype-selective histone deacetylase inhibitor, in patients with relapsed classical Hodgkin's lymphoma. METHODS: Patients with relapsed or refractory classical Hodgkin's lymphoma aged 18 years or older were treated with mocetinostat administered orally three times per week, in 28-day cycles. Two doses were assessed (85 mg and 110 mg). Patients were treated until disease progression or prohibitive toxicity. The primary outcome was disease control rate, defined as complete response, partial response, or stable disease (for at least six cycles), analysed by intention to treat. This trial has been completed and is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00358982. FINDINGS: 51 patients were enrolled. Initially, 23 patients were enrolled in the 110 mg cohort. Subsequently, because toxicity-related dose reductions were necessary in the 110 mg cohort, we treated 28 additional patients with a dose of 85 mg. On the basis of intent-to-treat analysis, the disease control rate was 35% (eight of 23 patients) in the 110 mg group and 25% (seven of 28) in the 85 mg group. 12 patients (24%) discontinued treatment because of adverse events, nine (32%) in the 85 mg cohort and three (13%) in the 110 mg cohort. The most frequent treatment-related grade 3 and 4 adverse events were neutropenia (four patients [17%] in the 110 mg group, three [11%] in the 85 mg group); fatigue (five patients [22%] in the 110 mg group, three [11%] in the 85 mg group); and pneumonia (four patients [17%] in the 110 mg group, two [7%] in the 85 mg group). Four patients, all in the 110 mg cohort, died during the study, of which two might have been related to treatment. INTERPRETATION: Mocetinostat, 85 mg three times per week, has promising single-agent clinical activity with manageable toxicity in patients with relapsed classical Hodgkin's lymphoma. FUNDING: MethylGene Inc, Montreal, Canada; Celgene Corporation, Summit, NJ, USA; Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA.

Phase 1 study of the oral isotype specific histone deacetylase inhibitor MGCD0103 in leukemia.

MGCD0103 is an isotype-selective inhibitor of histone deacetylases (HDACs) targeted to isoforms 1, 2, 3, and 11. In a phase 1 study in patients with leukemia or myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), MGCD0103 was administered orally 3 times weekly without interruption. Twenty-nine patients with a median age of 62 years (range, 32-84 years) were enrolled at planned dose levels (20, 40, and 80 mg/m(2)). The majority of patients (76%) had acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). In all, 24 (83%) of 29 patients had received 1 or more prior chemotherapies (range, 0-5), and 18 (62%) of 29 patients had abnormal cytogenetics. The maximum tolerated dose was determined to be 60 mg/m(2), with dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs) of fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea observed at higher doses. Three patients achieved a complete bone marrow response (blasts