ASH Directions
ASH and The Leukemia &
Lymphoma Society
Announce Collaboration on
Acute Myeloid Leukemia
The American Society of Hematology
(ASH) and The Leukemia & Lymphoma
Society (LLS) are working together to
raise awareness and provide education
about the need for new treatments for
acute myeloid leukemia (AML), one of
the deadliest blood cancers that has not
seen a change in the standard of care for
more than 40 years.
The two organizations will collaborate
to make both patients and health-care
practitioners aware of the importance
and availability of AML clinical trials, a
critical step in the development of new
treatments.
“Both LLS and ASH are dedicated to
advancing the understanding, diagnosis,
and treatment of blood cancers, so our
missions are truly aligned,” said LLS
President and CEO Louis J. DeGennaro,
PhD, in a joint press release. “In AML,
we face one of the most critical unmet
medical needs in cancer and by joining forces we aim to promote greater
understanding of and participation in
clinical trials to help bring more effective
therapies to patients, faster.”
The initiative is focused on analyzing
the genomic causes of the disease – really
a constellation of many subtypes – and
then identifying agents with the potential
to bring these diseases under control.
Ultimately, the goal is to develop more
precise, individualized, and effective
treatments for AML patients. ASH President Charles S. Abrams, MD, said in a
statement, “AML continues to present
one of our greatest challenges, and ASH
welcomes this opportunity to work with
LLS to encourage greater participation in
clinical trials to advance more therapies
and potential cures.”
Look for more information about this
collaboration with LLS in future issues
of AS H Clinical News and in our other
ASH publications. Also, turn to page 37
for a patient information tear sheet that
focuses on AML.
Interested in Serving on a
Guideline Panel on Sickle
Cell Disease?
ASH is seeking members with
expertise in this disease.
ASH is developing new clinical practice
guidelines on the management of acute
and chronic complications of sickle cell
disease. Robert Liem, MD, of Ann &
Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of
Chicago, will chair this guideline effort.
The guideline development process
will take approximately two years, with
anticipated publication in spring 2019.
There will be five guideline panels: SCD
pain, SCD cerebrovascular disease, SCD
cardiopulmonary and kidney disease,
SCD stem cell transplantation, and SCD
transfusion support.
Given the complex nature of SCD,
we are seeking individuals with varied
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ASH Clinical News
backgrounds and areas of expertise.
Each guideline panel will include 10 to
15 people. In addition to hematologists,
we expect the panels may include pain
specialists, primary-care specialists, pediatricians, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and other professionals. Both ASH
members and non-members may apply
or be nominated.
The deadline to apply or submit a
nomination is August 15, 2016. Please
include the nominee’s name, institution,
area of expertise, and email address;
nominations should be directed to Starr
Webb at [email protected].
Blood Advances Call for Papers
Blood Advances is ASH’s new open-access journal and
the first to join the Blood family in 70 years. You are invited to submit a paper for potential inclusion in Blood
Advances, which will begin accepting submissions on
August 1, 2016.
Authors who submit their papers to the Blood
journal can have their papers reviewed simultaneously by Blood Advances’ editors should the paper not
fit into Blood’s scope. This cascading feature is at the
author’s discretion at the time of submission. There
is no additional cost to the author. This feature will
guarantee a quicker route to publication if accepted in
Blood Advances. The new journal will also accept direct
submissions.
In the May issue of ASH Clinical News, we published
an article about the founding editor of Blood Advances,
Robert Negrin, MD, who shared his vision for this new
journal.
The inaugural issue of the journal will be distributed at the 2016 ASH Annual Meeting in San Diego,
California.
Go to bloodadvances.org to learn more about the new
journal and to submit a paper. A more detailed website
will be available in November.
August 2016