Background Lenalidomide and dexamethasone has been a standard of care in transplant-ineligible patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma. The addition of a third drug to the combination is likely to improve treatment efficacy. KEYNOTE-185 assessed the efficacy and safety of lenalidomide and dexamethasone with and without pembrolizumab in patients with previously untreated multiple myeloma. Here, we present the results of an unplanned interim analysis done to assess the benefit-risk of the combination at the request of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).Methods KEYNOTE-185 was a randomised, open-label, phase 3 trial done at 95 medical centres across 15 countries (

Purpose Pre-transplant values of serum ferritin, albumin and peripheral blood counts were previously suggested to provide prognostic information about hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) outcomes. Whether these “biomarkers” have prognostic value independent of each other and the HCT-comorbidity index (HCT-CI) is unknown. Patients and Methods We analyzed data from 3917 allogeneic HCT recipients at multiple sites in the US and Italy using multivariate models including each biomarker and the HCT-CI. Data from all sites were then randomly divided into a training set (n=2352) to develop weights for the relevant biomarkers to be added to the HCT-CI scores and a validation set (n=1407) to validate an augmented HCT-CI compared to the original index. Results Multivariate analysis with data from one site showed that ferritin, albumin and platelets-- not neutrophils or hemoglobin--were independently associated with increased non-relapse mortality (NRM) and decreased overall survival. Findings were validated in data from the other sites. Subsequently, in a training set from all sites, ferritin >2500 mg/dL (HR:1.69); albumin 3–3.5 g/dL (HR:1.61) and <3.0 g/dL (HR:2.27); and platelets 50–<100,000 (HR:1.28), 20–<50,000 (HR:1.29) and <20,000 (HR:1.55) were statistically significantly associated with NRM. Weights were assigned to these laboratory values following the same equation used to design the original index. In the validation set, The addition of the biomarkers to the original index to develop an augmented HCT-CI resulted in a statistically significant increase in higher c-statistic estimate for prediction of NRM. (p=0.0007). Conclusion Ferritin, albumin, and platelet counts are important prognostic markers that further refine the discriminative power of the HCT-CI for transplant outcomes.

Importance Adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) typically remain hospitalized after induction or salvage chemotherapy until blood count recovery, with resulting prolonged inpatient stays being a primary driver of healthcare cost. Pilot studies suggest that outpatient management following chemotherapy might be safe and could reduce cost for these patients. Objective To compare safety, resource utilization, infections and cost between adults discharged early following AML induction or salvage chemotherapy and inpatient controls. Design Non-randomized phase 2 study. Setting Single center study conducted at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, WA. Participants Over a 43-month period (January 1, 2011 – July 31, 2014), 178 adults receiving intensive AML chemotherapy were enrolled. After completion of chemotherapy, 107 met pre-designated medical and logistical criteria for early discharge (ED), while 29 met medical criteria only and served as inpatient controls. Interventions for Clinical Trials ED patients were discharged from the hospital at the completion of chemotherapy, and supportive care was provided in the outpatient setting until count recovery (median 21 days, range 2–45 days). Controls received inpatient supportive care (median 16 days, range 3–42 days). Main Outcome Measures 1) differences in early mortality 2) differences in resource utilization (ICU days, transfusions/study-day and IV antibiotics/study-day) 3) numbers of infections and 3) total and inpatient charges/study-day between early discharge patients and controls. Results Four patients discharged early (4%) but no controls died within 30 days of enrollment (p=0.58). Nine patients discharged early (8%) but no controls required intensive care unit-level care (p=0.20). No differences were noted in the average daily number of red blood cell (p=0.55) or platelet (p=0.31) transfusions. Patients discharged early did have more positive blood cultures (p=0.04) but required fewer days of IV antibiotics (p=0.007). Overall, daily charges among discharged patients were significantly lower (median $3,840 vs. $5,852; p<0.001) despite increased charges per inpatient day when readmitted (median $7,405 vs. $6,267; p<0.001). Conclusions and Relevance Early dischargefollowing intensive AML chemotherapy can reduce cost and use of IV antibiotics, but attention should be paid to complications that may occur in the outpatient setting. This study was registered at www.ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01235572).