Preliminary results of a Phase 1/2 trial indicate that treatment with low-dose Clolar during an extended, alternate day treatment schedule may be effective in high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes patients who no longer respond to Vidaza.

Dr. Thorsten Braun of the Avicenne Hospital in Bobigny, France, presented the trial results during an oral session at the 2011 meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) earlier this week.

Patients who fail Vidaza (azacitidine) treatment typically have poor prognoses (see the related Beacon news).

Previous studies have shown that Clolar…

This year’s American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2011 took place Saturday, December, 10, through yesterday in San Diego. This article summarizes the myelodysplastic syndromes-related highlights from Monday and yesterday.

Day 3

Monday was a busy day in terms of presentations related to myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).  There were several sessions with oral presentations throughout the day and a poster session in the evening.

The day began with a session about genetic alterations in MDS.  During the session, researchers presented the latest findings on how alterations in patients’ genes and proteins may…

Treatment with Clolar and high-dose cytarabine, followed by reduced-intensity preparative therapy prior to stem cell transplantation, may be effective and safe in patients with high-risk leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes, according to a recent retrospective study conducted in Germany.

The study authors suggest that this protocol may be particularly useful for older, high-risk patients with advanced disease who cannot undergo conventional preparative therapy.

However, they point out that prospective trials are needed to confirm their findings.

High-dose chemotherapy is traditionally given to patients prior to stem cell transplantation in order to…

Clolar, given orally at 25 mg daily for five days during a 28-day cycle, is well-tolerated by myelodysplastic syndromes patients and may be an effective treatment for patients who failed Vidaza or Dacogen therapy.

Dr. Mikkael A. Sekeres from the Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center presented these preliminary Phase 2a trial results last month during the American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting.

Clolar (clofarabine) is marketed by Genzyme and is currently approved to treat certain patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a type of white blood cell cancer. Clolar disrupts DNA synthesis…

This year’s American Society of Hematology meeting took place last week in Orlando.  December 4 was the first full day of the conference, and it included several talks as well as a poster session related to myelodysplastic syndromes.

Education Program

The first myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS)-related event was an education program in the afternoon.  The same session was also held Sunday morning.

First, Dr. Guillermo Garcia-Manero from the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston spoke about prognostic scoring systems for MDS.  He said that it is important for physicians to explain…