Each year, thousands of clinicians, basic scientists and other industry professionals sojourn to major international oncology conferences, like the American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting, to hone their skills, network with colleagues and learn about recent advances altering state-of-the-art management in hematologic oncology. These events have become global stages where exciting science, cutting-edge concepts and practice-changing data emerge on a truly grand scale. This massive outpouring of information has enormous benefits for the hematologic oncology community, but the truth is it also creates a major challenge for practicing oncologists and hematologists.

Although original data are consistently being presented and published, the flood of information unveiled during a major academic conference is unmatched and leaves in its wake an enormous volume of new knowledge that practicing oncologists must try to sift through, evaluate and consider applying. Unfortunately and quite commonly, time constraints and an inability to access these data sets leave many oncologists struggling to ensure that they’re aware of crucial practice-altering findings. This creates an almost insurmountable obstacle for clinicians in community practice because they are not only confronted almost overnight with thousands of new presentations and data sets to consider but they are also severely restricted in their ability to review and interrogate the raw findings.

To bridge the gap between research and patient care, this CME activity will deliver a serial review of the most important emerging data sets on novel agents and therapeutic options for the treatment of newly diagnosed and relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and follicular lymphoma (FL) from the latest ASH meeting, including expert perspectives on how these new evidence-based concepts may be applied to routine clinical care. This activity will assist medical oncologists, hematologists, hematology-oncology fellows and other healthcare professionals in the formulation of optimal clinical management strategies and the timely application of new research findings to best-practice patient care.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Appraise recent clinical research findings on the efficacy and safety of venetoclax alone or in combination for patients with CLL and FL.
• Compare the risks and benefits associated with the Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitors ibrutinib and acalabrutinib for the treatment of CLL.
• Evaluate the activity and tolerability of obinutuzumab/bendamustine for patients with previously untreated CLL.
• Recall recent data on the activity of pembrolizumab in the treatment of relapsed/refractory CLL, including for patients with Richter’s transformation.
• Assess the safety of idelalisib in the front-line treatment of CLL.

ACCREDITATION STATEMENT
Research To Practice is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

CME credit is no longer available for this issue

CREDIT DESIGNATION STATEMENT

CME credit is no longer available for this issue

HOW TO USE THIS CME ACTIVITY
This CME activity contains slides and edited commentary.

CME credit is no longer available for this issue

CONTENT VALIDATION AND DISCLOSURES

Research To Practice (RTP) is committed to providing its participants with high-quality, unbiased and state-of-the-art education. We assess conflicts of interest with faculty, planners and managers of CME activities. Conflicts of interest are identified and resolved through a conflict of interest resolution process. In addition, all activity content is reviewed by both a member of the RTP scientific staff and an external, independent physician reviewer for fair balance, scientific objectivity of studies referenced and patient care recommendations.

FACULTY — The following faculty (and their spouses/partners) reported relevant conflicts of interest, which have been resolved through a conflict of interest resolution process:

Jeff Sharman, MD
Director of Research, Willamette Valley Cancer Institute
Medical Director of Hematology Research, The US Oncology Network
Eugene, Oregon

Advisory Committee and Consulting Agreements: Celgene Corporation, Genentech BioOncology, Gilead Sciences Inc, Pharmacyclics Inc; Contracted Research: Celgene Corporation, Cephalon Inc, Genentech BioOncology, Gilead Sciences Inc, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, an Amgen subsidiary, Pharmacyclics Inc.

EDITOR — Dr Love is president and CEO of Research To Practice, which receives funds in the form of educational grants to develop CME activities from the following commercial interests: AbbVie Inc, Amgen Inc, Astellas Pharma Global Development Inc, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, Baxalta Inc, Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Biodesix Inc, bioTheranostics Inc, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc, Boston Biomedical Pharma Inc, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Celgene Corporation, Clovis Oncology, CTI BioPharma Corp, Daiichi Sankyo Inc, Dendreon Pharmaceuticals Inc, Eisai Inc, Exelixis Inc, Foundation Medicine, Genentech BioOncology, Genomic Health Inc, Gilead Sciences Inc, ImmunoGen Inc, Incyte Corporation, Janssen Biotech Inc, Jazz Pharmaceuticals Inc, Lilly, Medivation Inc, Merck, Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc, Myriad Genetic Laboratories Inc, NanoString Technologies, Natera Inc, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Novocure, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, an Amgen subsidiary, Pharmacyclics Inc, Prometheus Laboratories Inc, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Sanofi, Seattle Genetics, Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals Inc, Sirtex Medical Ltd, Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc, Taiho Oncology Inc, Takeda Oncology, Teva Oncology, Tokai Pharmaceuticals Inc and VisionGate Inc.

RESEARCH TO PRACTICE STAFF AND EXTERNAL REVIEWERS — The scientific staff and reviewers for Research To Practice have no relevant conflicts of interest to disclose.

This educational activity contains discussion of published and/or investigational uses of agents that are not indicated by the Food and Drug Administration. Research To Practice does not recommend the use of any agent outside of the labeled indications. Please refer to the official prescribing information for each product for discussion of approved indications, contraindications and warnings. The opinions expressed are those of the presenters and are not to be construed as those of the publisher or grantors.

This activity is supported by educational grants from Celgene Corporation, CTI BioPharma Corp/Baxalta Inc, Jazz Pharmaceuticals Inc, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Seattle Genetics and Takeda Oncology.

Hardware/Software Requirements:
A high-speed Internet connection
A monitor set to 1280 x 1024 pixels or more
Internet Explorer 7 or later, Firefox 3.0 or later, Chrome, Safari 3.0 or later
Adobe Flash Player 10.2 plug-in or later
Adobe Acrobat Reader
(Optional) Sound card and speakers for audio

Last review date: March 2016
Expiration date: March 2017