Apply for an EHA 2019 Fellowship until 9th April
The European Hematology Association (EHA) has already opened the Fellowship Application and Registration process by providing 60 free congress registrations for leaders of hematology patient organisations. This year, EHA has increased their fellowship and is offering an additional 10 fellowships, to provide patient advocates the opportunity to attend the 24th annual EHA congress which is taking place in Amsterdam from June 13-16, 2019.
If you are a representative of a CML patient organisation interested in attending this Congress, you have the possibility to apply for an EHA Fellowship and attend the 24th EHA Congress HERE.
UPDATE: Falsified Iclusig traded globally, discovered in Malaysia (new), Turkey, Switzerland, Argentina and Internet sales with UK/Ireland product batch numbers PR072875 (45mg) and 25A19E09 (15mg)
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued a medical product alert today that falsified versions of ICLUSIG (Ponatinib) have been discovered in Turkey, Argentina and Switzerland, and in Internet sales. The falsified (counterfeit) medicines do not contain any of the CML drug ponatinib, but only low quantities of paracetamol. These falsified medicines are not going to have any effect against CML. The falsified English language packs contain the lot/batch numbers
- PR072875 (UK/Ireland pack, English language, 60 tablets á 45mg, Expiry date 12/2019) and
- 25A19E09 (UK/Ireland pack, English language, 30 tablets á 15mg, Expiry date 10/2020).
In addition, on 20 February 2019, we were notified of a new falsified Iclusig pack:
- PR0834170 (German pack, German language, 30 tablets á 45 mg, Expiry date 06/2020).
The WHO page which is available in English, French, Russian and Spanish provides photos of the packages and pill bottles so patients can find the batch numbers. The WHO page has not yet been updated on the third falsified pack, which is expected those days.
To identify falsified product batches both the batch number and packaging (language, country of the pack) are important.
No UK/Ireland ORIGINAL product has been produced by the manufacturers Incyte/Takeda that carries those batch numbers in languages from those countries and with these languages. Products with the above batch numbers, country and language are most likely falsified.
In case of PR072875, the counterfeiters used this genuine lot number originally issued on a German ICLUSIG box and created a falsified UK packaging. In case of 25A19E09 and PR0834170, no original products were manufactured wih those batch numbers.
And so far, the manufacturer and medicines authorities are NOT aware of additional FALSIFIED ponatinib products bearing different batch numbers, so patients taking Ponatinib with other batch numbers than those listed above should NOT yet be concerned.
Patients, physicians and distributors should make sure to obtain CML medication from validated and reliable sources that are able to demonstrate the authenticity of origin of the products.
In case of any concern, check the batch number against the two identified falsifications, and contact Incyte Medical Information in case of persisting suspicion at eumedinfo@incyte.com or +800 00027423.
Please let the CML Advocates Network know via info@cmladvocates.net if you come across the falsified product with these batch numbers, so we know whether the falsified medicines have been shipped to any other regions or countries. National CML patient groups are also encouraged to notify their local health authorities and leading physicians.
Free EHA congress registrations for CML patient organisations representatives: Deadline 27 February 2018!
Again this year, the European Hematology Association (EHA) is providing around 50 free congress registrations for leaders of hematology patient organisations, to give patient advocates the opportunity to attend the 23rd annual EHA congress which is taking place in Stockholm from June 14-17, 2018.
Sincere condolences to Kazakhstan CML community
Our hearts go out to Kazakhstan and members of the Association of Patients with Hemoblastoses and especially to the family of Lyubov Mizinova who has passed away this month.
We have lost a dear friend and valued patient advocate.
Lyubov Mizinova was the President of the long-running organisation in Kazakhstan and our member for many years.
She was a commendable CML advocate who was active in both Kazakhstan and part of the CML Advocates Network many years.
We all are very proud of every single CML patient advocate who dedicates time, resources, skills and love to the CML community worldwide.
We will all miss Lyubov very much and her loss will be felt by the CML community.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Mrs Mizinova's family at this time.
Very engaged patient advocacy activities at the European Hematology Association’s Annual Congress 2017 in Madrid
The European Hematology Association’s (EHA) Annual Congress was held in Madrid, Spain on 22-25 June 2017. More than 10.000 hematology professionals from around the world gathered and discussed the latest developments in hematology research and clinical practice. For the last 7 years, EHA together with its EHA Patient Organisations Workgroup, have conducted Patient Advocacy Sessions within the Scientific Programme of the EHA Congress. With its Patient Advocacy Track, EHA Fellowship Programme, Capacity Building Programme for Patient Advocates, the EHA is one of the leading medical societies in terms of patient involvement in its congress.
EHA presentations available in this article.
ASCO: US perspective of TKI therapy discontinuation in CML patients
The 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting were taking place June 2–6 in Chicago and our cofounder Jan Geissler has collected all the highlights of this important meeting for chronic myeloid leukemia community.
In the recent past, not only hematologists but also patient groups have expressed their concern that "stopping CML therapy out in the field" may lead to bad practice by doctors not following expert recommendations, and have suggested stopping TKI therapy should only be done in clinical trials.
Of course, especially after NCCN has updated its CML guideline and has given guidance on stopping treatment despite the prematurity of data, we could expect that this would be largely ignored out in the field.
So here is Jan Geissler's shock poster at #ASCO17: The high arts of CML therapy and the sad reality - we need to be grateful for investigators spelling it out so clearly. He is shocked, as his gut feeling about bad practice is now supported by data.
ASCO Dasatinib in pediatric CML patients report
The 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting were taking place June 2–6 in Chicago.
At ASCO, Lia Gore, MD, co-director of the Hematological Malignancies Program at the University of Colorado Cancer Center and pediatric oncologist at Children’s Hospital Colorado, presented exciting data about Dasatinib in pediatric CML patients: CML in children is ultra-rare, making it very difficult to study - CML cases make up only 3% of all leukemias in children.
The data presented here has been submitted to FDA and EMA for the approval in pediatric use, and is quite impressive: The side effect profile seems to be very favourable and the inhibition of bone growth in children on TKIs seems to be less of an issue in Dasatinib than in Imatinib.
However, given that administration of medicines in children and being adherent to therapy is often a challenge for young CML patients (and their parents), the availability of Dasatinib also as a powder-based suspension as well as the fact that the drug can be taken without or with food may make life much easier.
The investigators concluded that Dasatinib may be considered as a new standard of care for pediatric CML patients.
ASCO CML Education Session 2017
The 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting is taking place June 2–6 in Chicago.
At the CML Education Session, CML expert Dr. Ehab Atallah, MD, associate professor of medicine in the division of hematology and oncology at the Medical College of Wisconsin, has been speaking during an Education Session about discontinuation of tyrosine kinase inhibitors in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) presenting about the "Promise of stopping TKIs: Is it ready for prime time"?
Even though no new data was presented (see ASH 2016 Report), it has been very interesting to listen to the US perspective.
Free EHA congress registrations for representatives of haematology patient organizations: Deadline 29 April 2017!
This year EHA Congress will be held on the 22-25 June 2017 in Madrid, Spain. Thanks to very patient-centric thinking, EHA continues to work closely with the patient community and is once again offering a “Patient Advocacy Track” within the scientific program.
EHA FELLOWSHIP -- APPLY NOW, UNTIL 29 APRIL!
Once again in 2017, EHA will provide 50 Fellowships for their EHA congress which will be held during the 22-25 June 2017 in Madrid. The Fellowship provides free access to the full congress, but also includes a compulsory "capacity building programme" to educate all attending advocates and further their development and knowledge about haematology and science.
In collaboration with EHA and the European Reference Network EuroBloodNet, we're taking the next level this year and will provide a "EHA Capacity Building Meeting" for all Fellows on 22 June, from 14:00 - 17:00.
In this meeting, EHA Fellows will hear about EuroBloodNet, the ePAGs, about interpreting scientific data, and about how to get the best out of a scientific conference EHA (for all disease areas). This will then be followed with a summary of the most important data presented at EHA, specifically for Fellows in MDS, Myeloma, Acute Leukemias, Lymphomas & CLL, MDS and CML. The capacity building meeting on 22 June will be mandatory for all EHA Fellows. Priority will be given to advocates who have attended last year's capacity building event and/or are engaged in European hematology patient networks.
Please encourage your most important science-interested advocates to apply for an EHA Fellowship to attend EHA and speak to your umbrella group if they may be able to support EHA Fellows with travel costs.
The CML Advocates Network can provide a limited amount of travel grant of up to 500 EUR to those European CML Advocates that receive a fellowship.
To apply for an EHA Fellowship, please ask your advocates to register HERE
Deadline for applications is 29 April 2017, accepted advocates will be informed in the first week of May.
If you have any questions, please touch base with lidija@lepaf.org
Our publication in Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology: Factors influencing adherence in CML and ways to improvement
Non-Adherence to treatment in chronic diseases is a well-known problem. The dramatic evolution in CML treatment in the last decade, resulting from the introduction of Imatinib and followed by second generation TKIs, has turned CML into a kind of chronic disease where patients need to take their medication on daily basis.
In 2012, the CML Advocates Network decided to conduct a large, scientifically sound international study on adherence. It enrolled patients from 9/2012 to 1/2013 based on a comprehensive questionnaire in 12 languages. The aim of this study was to investigate motivations and behavioral patterns of adherence in CML and subsequently support hematologists and patients to improve adherence and develop suitable adherence tools. Overall 2.546 questionnaires filled in by CML patients from 63 countries and 79 CML patient organisations were returned.
Our publication “Factors influencing adherence in CML and ways to improvement: Results of a patient-driven survey of 2546 patients in 63 countries” has been a tough ride for us non-scientists over the past three years, given we needed support to do the data analysis and write a scientific paper.
Our paper has now been published in the Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology
iCMLf Forum 2016 Webstreams now available
At the annual ASH congress, the iCMLf, in collaboration with The Max Foundation, holds its annual "iCMLf Forum for Physicians from Emerging Regions". Presenters give the local emerging regions perspectives on each topic, followed by iCMLf experts from western countries and a discussion with the audience. The Forum was opened with a keynote from Dr. Brian Druker on meeting the new challenges in CML therapy. Then, Professor Tapan Saikia from India and Professor Andreas Hochhaus from Germany covered the challenges of CML frontline therapy. Afterwards Dr Anthony Oyekunle from Botswana and Dr Delphine Réa from France covered the issue of comorbidities when managing CML. The webstreams are now available.
Our publication in LEUKEMIA: Patients' declaration on the use of generics in CML treatment
Market exclusivity for imatinib has lapsed in 10 EU countries, most countries to follow in 2016. CML patients have been increasingly exposed to generics and copy drugs in the treatment of CML, raising concerns about outcomes when patients are switched between products for non-medical reasons.
A survey of patient organisations and physicians by the CML Advocates Network in 2013 determined that generic imatinib and dasatinib were available in 32 countries. In 2014, CML patient organizations released a declaration, calling for quality and consistency when TKI generics are prescribed, demanding data on bioequivalence and clinical equivalence to the originator drug. Patients should not be switched between products with the same substance for non-medical reasons. If a switch is enforced, it should not happen more than once a year, with sufficient follow-up assessing safety and efficacy. In case of loss of response or increase in toxicity after switching, switching to the previous treatment or another treatment should be allowed. More frequent molecular monitoring post-switch should allow early detection of differences in effectiveness or toxicity. These recommendations by the patient community may support experts' discussion on CML management with TKI generics.
Our paper has now been published in the journal LEUKEMIA, doi: 10.1038/leu.2016.220
