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Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center’s Lynda M. Vrooman, MD will present an abstract at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
The abstract, titled “Efficacy and toxicity of pegaspargase and calaspargase pegol in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma: Results of DFCI 11-001” (Abstract # 10006) will be presented at ASCO on Friday, May 31, from 2:45 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. (Pediatric Oncology I; presentation time 4:45 p.m.)
Vrooman will present the findings from a multi-center clinical trial led by Dana-Farber/Boston Children's investigators that contributed to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of a novel drug for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
The randomized trial for patients with newly diagnosed ALL compared the efficacy and toxicity of calaspargase pegol, a novel pegylated asparaginase formulation designed for longer activity in the body, with standard-of-care pegaspargase. Given every three weeks rather than two weeks as with the standard treatment, calaspargase pegol provided similar overall survival, event-free survival, and safety profiles.
In December 2018, the FDA approved the use of calaspargase pegol for the treatment of ALL in pediatric and young adult patients.
ASCO takes place in Chicago from May 31 to June 4. It is the world’s largest clinical cancer research meeting, attracting more than 30,000 oncology professionals from around the world.