A roundtable discussion on anemia management in myelodysplastic syndromes, featuring moderator Guillermo Garcia-Manero, MD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Amy DeZern, MD, MHS, Johns Hopkins Medicine; Tiffany Tanaka, MD, of the University of California San Diego; and Uma Borate, MBBS, of Ohio State University. In this segment, the panelists discuss long-term data from the COMMANDS trial.
The following is an unedited transcript:
Let’s talk about new drugs. Some of the new presentations at ASH. So there was an update on the COMMANDS trial at the meeting. So I actually presented it. But I wanted to know how.
What was your take on on it. What do you think this data is basically looking at the behavior of this drug in patients more than 1.5 years. You think that’s positive data or is what you expected?
I mean, I think it’s very reassuring. I definitely think it’s positive that people are continuing to do well. People are continuing to respond. The response seemed durable. I think that makes us feel better about using it in the front line. And, and hopefully, you know, more settings including RS-negative. And I think the other thing is, as people sort of as you have longer follow up, is what are the toxicities that are emerging?
Are there unknown side effects? Is there something that we need to be concerned about. And it didn’t seem like there was a safety signal in the long term follow up, which I think is very reassuring, especially if we’re talking about earlier interventions. People are going to be on therapy for longer.
That was my take. Or was it nice? I mean, I completely agree, it’s only good because I think we have to be a really pretty realistic. These patients are always going to need other therapies, right? This is a chronic disease, but the longer they can be on the first therapy means the more time they have thereafter to be on the next therapy. If I recall, right, was like a third of the patients were still responding a year and a half later.
