Category: Patient Education

LAM-002A: What You Should Know about this Agent for B-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

What is LAM-002A?  

LAM-002A is an oral selective kinase inhibitor currently undergoing Phase I trials for the treatment of relapsed or refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. These trials seek to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of LAM-002A. Before investigation of LAM-002A in patients with lymphoma, it was studied and found to be safe in patients with psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and Crohn’s disease.

How does LAM-002 work?

Also known as apilimod dimesylate, LAM-002 is a potent and highly selective PIKfyve kinase inhibitor. It is the first compound in this class.  Kinases are proteins that modify cell functions. Lymphomas can arise from overactive or high levels of kinases. LAM-002 disrupts the normal activity of this particular kinase, which can lead to death of cancer cells.

What are the side effects?

In previous studies of patients with psoriasis, RA and Crohn’s disease, LAM-002 was well tolerated, with most side effects assessed as mild in severity. The most frequent side effects included headaches, upper respiratory tract infection, and nausea. To date all available nonclinical and clinical data support the safety profile of LAM-002A in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

How can you access LAM-002A?

LAM-002A is available through a recently opened Phase I trial for men and women with previously-treated B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the Lymphoma Program at Weill Cornell Medicine.

A full list of trials open at WCM for patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma is available on our Joint Clinical Trials website.

Dr. Peter Martin Discusses Transplantation as a Treatment Option for Patients with Mantle Cell Lymphoma

In an interview with the Lymphoma Research Foundation (LRF), Dr. Peter Martin discusses mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), treatment options including transplantation, and what advice he would give to people who are newly diagnosed with MCL.

Debate exists among researchers on whether or when stem cell transplantation should be used in the treatment of MCL. Why do you think this is so?

…

“Some people feel that stem cell transplantation is likely to make a patient live longer and others feel that a long remission duration following a stem cell transplant means there are fewer lymphoma-related side effects, and everybody likes that idea.

On the other hand, autologous stem cell transplantation doesn’t cure MCL. There are limited data that suggest that it may allow people to live longer, and many patients may experience significant side effects but not have a very durable remission and a longer life. So that’s a very subjective sort of decision based on less than perfect evidence.

It’s our job as lymphoma doctors to help patients understand the potential benefits and the potential negative side effects to all treatment options so they can select a treatment that is best for them. There’s no right or wrong treatment option in many cases and it’s a matter of choosing the option that makes the most sense for that person at that point in time.”

The full interview can be read on the LRF’s website.

CT Scans for Monitoring Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia: Dr Richard Furman Comments in Panel Discussion

In this video from OncLive, CLL Program Director, Dr. Richard Furman joins a panel of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) experts to discuss the practice of using CT scans to monitor CLL.

In agreement with the other members of the panel, Dr. Furman commented,

“One of the additional factors that I think really has to be taken into account, and I couldn’t agree with the both of you more, is that now that our CLL patients have options beyond chemotherapy, their longevity is going to dramatically increase. Radiation tends to have a late effect, and now our patients have a future to be thinking about. And so, I really think doing away with CT scans as much as possible is certainly important. And there’s tremendous overuse of PET scanning, which is really not necessarily more radiation, but it’s the idea that, unless you suspect someone has Richter’s transformation, a PET scan doesn’t really add a lot to the care of the patient. And it really is just unnecessary radiation.”