This activity is sponsored by

This activity is supported by an educational grant from

Susan O’Brien, MD – Chair
Professor of Medicine
Department of Leukemia
The University of Texas
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Houston, Texas

P. Leif Bergsagel, MD
Professor of Medicine, Consultant
Mayo Clinic
Scottsdale, Arizona

Asher Chanan-Khan, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
School of Biomedical Sciences
State University of New York, Buffalo
Attending Physician
Division of Lymphoma/Myeloma
Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Buffalo, New York

Ian W. Flinn, MD, PhD
Director of Hematologic Malignancies Research
Sarah Cannon Research Institute
Medical Director
Sarah Cannon Blood and Marrow Transplant Program
Nashville, Tennessee

Antonio P. Palumbo, MD
Chief of the Myeloma Unit
Department of Oncology
Section of Hematology
University of Torino
Torino, Italy

Thomas E. Witzig, MD
Consultant in Hematology
Professor of Medicine
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine
Mayo Clinic
Rochester, Minnesota

Allen S. Yang, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Jane Anne Nohl Division of Hematology and
Center for the Study of Blood Diseases
Keck School of Medicine
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California

STATEMENT OF NEED
Despite recent gains made in the management of hematologic malignancies, the treatment of these diseases remains a challenge for many healthcare professionals and patients. Formulating which treatment approach is most appropriate for a given patient requires careful consideration of patient-specific characteristics, physician expertise, and available health-system resources. While difficult, these decisions require knowledge of current clinical and experimental data in order for the appropriate integration of novel therapeutic agents and strategies into clinical practice. As recently the development of novel treatment approaches have reached the clinic and have increased therapeutic options available for patients with hematologic malignancies, the future of clinical medicine within hematologic malignancies will undoubtedly come to rely more on novel agents and combinations. This educational program provides participants with a review of the most recent advances in the treatment of hematological malignancies as well as specific updates and outcomes of ongoing or recently published clinical trials, assimilated into a concise learning opportunity by experts in the field. The state-of-the-art strategies these experts will discuss will provide practitioners with the information they need to integrate new therapeutic strategies into their patient care decisions. The end result will be to provide the expertise to the community practitioner in order to improve remission and survival rates for patients with hematological malignancies while minimizing adverse events and maintaining or improving patient quality of life.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Upon completion of this educational program, participants should be better able to:

• Discuss appropriate endpoint determinants for clinical trials evaluating therapies for hematologic malignancies and disorders
• Recognize the utility of surrogate endpoints in the assessment of efficacy of new treatments in hematologic malignancies and disorders
• Compare and contrast the methods and results of studies available for the treatment of patients with hematologic malignancies and disorders with respect to efficacy and toxicity parameters
• Discuss the clinical implications of the results of pivotal clinical trials, including early phase trials, that have potential to impact the use of novel therapies and maintenance therapy in hematologic malignancies and disorders
• Summarize how individualized therapeutic strategies for hematologic malignancies and disorders can be integrated into the continuum of patient care

TARGET AUDIENCE
The target audience for this educational initiative is medical oncologists, hematologists, hematologist-oncologists, pathologists, and allied healthcare professionals caring for patients with hematologic malignancies and disorders.