Harry P. Erba, MD, PhD: I truly appreciate this discussion. Before we conclude, I’d like to get final thoughts from each of you. I’m going to start with Dr. Krisstina Gowin. Krisstina?

Krisstina Gowin, DO: Over recent decades, we’ve made great progress in the treatment of myeloproliferative neoplasms [MPN], in their diagnosis and their prognostic characterization. Looking at the molecular characteristics is so important.

We’ve now developed wonderful therapies that are effective for spleen reduction, for symptom reduction, and we have more emerging data to be thinking about transplantation earlier in the course of disease, as well as thinking about early transplant referral. We have upcoming therapies that are exciting, so it’s a hopeful and optimistic time for both patients and their treating physicians, and the treatment of MPNs.

Harry P. Erba, MD, PhD: Thank you. Dr. Ruben Mesa. Ruben?

Ruben A. Mesa, MD, FACP: I would add that I’m incredibly excited, having been in this field for many years, along with my colleagues on the panel.

We’ve evolved from an era where we had almost no therapies that were being specifically developed for MPNs to now having multiple FDA-approved therapies that have been approved on the basis of large, well-done Phase 3 studies, and many more in the pipeline, going along with further understanding of the biological underpinnings of the disease. It’s a time of tremendous hope for our MPN patients: better options and better ability to control their disease, a bright future ahead.

Harry P. Erba, MD, PhD: Thank you, Ruben. Dr. Jamile Shammo. Jamile?

Jamile M. Shammo, MD, FASCP, FACP: I’d like us to think of the MPNs as malignancies and treat them as such. We all need to obtain better baselines for our patients and consider evaluations at periodic times so that we can employ all the available therapies for patients who we take care of appropriately.

Harry P. Erba, MD, PhD: Then finally, Srdan Verstovsek. Srdan?

Srdan Verstovsek, MD, PhD: I want to thank everybody for allowing me to participate today; it was a wonderful discussion. I second everything that has been mentioned in the closing remarks, but I almost feel like it is the beginning. There is always more to learn or more to do; anything that we address opens another chapter to address it better or in a different way forward.

It is an exciting time. It has been discussed very well where we are now from 10 or 20 years ago; it’s incredible, but there is so much to do. We are all together in the fight for our patients, so I cherish the next tasks, and hopefully we’re going to get together again for a longer discussion about the new developments next year again.

Harry P. Erba, MD, PhD: Thank you again, to our viewing audience. I also want to thank OncLive® for asking me to moderate this session. They are incredibly valuable to me, I’ve learned so much from my colleagues around the country, around the world, in just this hour and a half on the management of patients with various hematologic malignancies. We hope you found this OncLive® Peer Exchange® discussion to be useful and informative to you as well.

Transcript Edited for Clarity