After participating in a global clinical trial, leaders at the Children’s Hospital Colorado (Children’s Colorado) Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders and the University of Colorado Cancer Center are celebrating results so transformative, they change the standard of care for treating most kids with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), the most common form of childhood cancer. The new therapy is less toxic than traditional chemotherapy, resulting in significantly fewer side effects like severe infections, mouth sores and bone marrow suppression, leading to improved quality of life for patients.
The findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting in early December. They show that adding the bi-specific T-cell engaging antibody blinatumomab to standard chemotherapy significantly improves three-year disease-free survival for children who have been newly diagnosed with B-ALL. The study was co-authored by Dr. Lia Gore, Section Head of the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s Colorado and Professor at University of Colorado School of Medicine, and Dr. Maureen O’Brien, Leukemia and Lymphoma Program Lead at Children’s Colorado and Professor at University of Colorado School of Medicine.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2411680
