Letter from the Editor

Introduction.

Dear Reader,

It is my pleasure to introduce this peer-reviewed ASH 2020 Medicom Conference Report. Although it was a virtual meeting due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many interesting presentations could be followed via the screen. We were able to select a number of interesting abstracts that probably will change your practice, but also more basic items are included in this summary. The presentations are summarised in a way that the information is easy to digest in a rather short time.

This year we saw a further increase in the number of new drugs under development in a variety of haematological disorders. We also selected some abstracts devoted to the COVID-19 pandemic and the implications for your daily practice. As in the previous ASH meetings, the number of abstracts on immunotherapy including bispecific antibody and CAR T-cell treatment applied in a variety of haematological malignancies was rising. Treatment of AML, a disease in which for a long time we had to rely on very few innovations, is rapidly changing with the development of new effective targeted treatments especially in the patients who are not fit for intensive treatment. But also in the other haematological disorders new treatments were discussed. You will find snapshots of all these new developments in this report. I am sure you will enjoy.

Gert Ossenkoppele

 

Biography

Professor Gert Ossenkoppele was appointed in 2003 as professor of Haematology at the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, now named Amsterdam UMC, location VUMC. Gert Ossenkoppele has authored over 420 publications in peer-reviewed journals and is an invited speaker at many international scientific meetings. His research interests are mainly translational and include the (stem cell) biology of AML, leukemic stem cell target discovery, immunotherapy, and measurable residual disease (MRD) detection using flow cytometry to inform treatment of AML. He is the PI of various clinical trials in myeloid malignancies. He chairs the AML working party of HOVON (Dutch-Belgian Haematology Trial Group) He is a lead participant of the AML Work package of the European LeukemiaNet (ELN) as well as a board member of the ELN foundation. He is appointed as chair of the EHA Educational Committee. He just stepped down as chair of the AML Scientific working group of EHA, and he is chair of the Global and EU steering committee of the AMLGlobalPortal, an educational portal for haematologists (www.amlglobalportal.com).

 

Conflicts of interest

Professor Gert Ossenkoppele is a member of research support for Novartis, J&J and BMS-Celgene.

He functions as a consultant for J&J, Daiichi-Sanyko, BMS-Celgene, Servier, and Roche. Lastly, he is a member of the advisory boards of Novartis, Pfizer, Abbvie, J&J, Daiichi-Sanyko, BMS-Celgene, AGIOS, Amgen, Astellas, Roche, Jazz pharmaceuticals, and Merus.

 





Posted on 22 February 20214 August 2021