Hematology Experts Outline the Top Abstracts to Watch at the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting

Aaron Gerds, MD

With the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting inching closer, OncLive® tapped into leading voices in the field of hematologic oncology and asked them to detail the abstracts and emerging data they are most excited to see presented during the meeting.

Exclusive insights were gathered from:

• Aaron Gerds, MD, an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine of the School of Medicine and a member of the Developmental Therapeutics Program at Case Comprehensive Cancer Center; and a physician in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio
• Joshua Brody, MD, the director of the Lymphoma Immunotherapy Program at the Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai and a faculty member of the Icahn Genomics Institute in New York, New York

Read on to see the top abstracts our experts highlighted and learn more about why they believe these trials could significantly affect clinical practice.

Editor’s note: This preview will continue to be updated with additional abstracts to watch in hematologic oncology leading up to the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Myeloproliferative Neoplasms

Abstract LBA3: Results from VERIFY, a phase 3, double-blind, placebo (PBO)-controlled study of rusfertide for treatment of polycythemia vera (PV)

Session time: June 1st, 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM CDT

Gerds: Rusfertide is the big one. Topline results [from the phase 3 VERIFY trial (NCT05210790)] were already [announced] in a press release, and we're all excited to see more granular data.1 We want to see [this presentation] and [have the data] available for questioning. There's a lot [to discuss] with rusfertide. Clearly, it can eliminate the need for phlebotomy [in patients with polycythemia vera]; that is incredible. [This study provides] proof of concept that we can harness the power of the hepcidin pathway—that's another key point for the field because, [along with] rusfertide, there are a lot of other drugs being developed that do similar things.

Interestingly, the trial was positive, which is fantastic. However, [we still aren’t sure if] [rusfertide is] a viable [agent] that can be made available to patients through commercialization. That's the [big] question, because phlebotomies are relatively cheap, and they can keep hematocrit [levels] under 45%.

Then we have to start looking at other things. How often is the hematocrit level under 45%? Some data out there say that approximately one-third of the time, when we're performing a phlebotomy on a patient with polycythemia vera, [hematocrit levels are] under 45%. Is keeping it under 45% all the time better?

Does [rusfertide] have any other benefit? In the phase 2 [REVIVE] trial [NCT04057040], there was a suggestion that quality of life [QOL] is better with rusfertide. [REVIVE] was not a randomized trial, but patients' QOL of life improved on rusfertide compared with baseline. More information on [QOL] could be important.

Is there any other effect [with rusfertide]? Are we reducing inflammation? When the iron stores become better, is their overall functioning [improved]? It would be interesting to know if [rusfertide] has an effect on progression; by reducing inflammation and letting the iron stores replete, could we reduce the risk of progression to, say, myelofibrosis? We're going have to wait a long time for those data, and we may never get them because of the number of patients on the trial and the fact that the median time to progression from the diagnosis of PV to myelofibrosis is [approximately] 15 years. I don't know if we're going to get those [long-term progression data], but if we can get some longer-term data with [the VERIFY trial], they would be interesting to see and potentially give more credence in using [rusfertide].

The tension is [being caused by] the fact that phlebotomies are cheap, easy, and readily available compared with a drug that's probably going to have a higher cost. [We don’t yet know if rusfertide could have a role] in a health care system that is increasingly focused on value-based care.

Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

Abstract 7000: Prospective validation of end of treatment ctDNA-MRD by PhasED-Seq in DLBCL patients from a national trial

Session time: May 30th, 2:45 PM to 5:45 PM CDT

Joshua Brody, MD

Brody : These data could be transformational for clinical trial development, as they may help to create a 'new space' between first- and second-line diffuse large B-cell lymphoma [DLBCL] therapy: [line] 1.5 or first-line consolidation. If we can accurately predict which patients are highly likely to relapse, we may be able to prevent this with consolidation therapy, particularly by using immunotherapies or other treatments [that] are mechanically distinct from the anthracycline-based induction therapy they received, [such as R-CHOP (rituximab [Rituxan], cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone)]. This is the model of the planned [phase 2] ALPHA3 trial [NCT06500273]. [ALPHA3 will] test [the] allogeneic CAR T-cell therapy [cemacabtagene ansegedleucel] in this setting, although any promising therapy could be similarly tested.

Abstract 7003: A phase 1 study of KITE-363 anti-CD19/CD20 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in patients (pts) with relapsed/refractory (R/R) B-cell lymphoma (BCL)

Session time: May 30th, 2:45 PM to 5:45 PM CDT

Brody: One of the primary mechanisms of relapse after immunotherapies such as CAR T-cell therapy is antigen escape, whereby the target [for example, CD19] is 'lost', preventing the effective use of any subsequent therapy directed at the same target. Although there are several bispecific CAR T-cell therapies [targeting dual combinations of CD19, CD20, CD22, and/or CD79, for example], most studies have been smaller, single-center trials. [However, the phase 1] multicenter KITE-363 [trial (NCT04989803)] …plans to treat over 100 patients. Hence, these preliminary results may be impactful.

Abstract 7006: Sintilimab (anti-PD-1 antibody) combined with chidamide (an oral subtype-selective HDACi) followed by P-GemOx regimen in patients with treatment-naïve extranodal natural killer/T cell lymphoma (TN-ENKTL): A multicenter, open-label, single-arm, phase II study (SCENT-2 trial).

Session time: May 30th, 2:45 PM to 5:45 PM CDT

Brody: Despite the unparalleled progress in B-cell lymphomas over the past 2 decades, progress in T-cell lymphomas has been tragically slow. Thus, early results of anti–PD-1 efficacy in natural killer [NK]/T-cell lymphoma have been incredibly exciting. [We’ve seen] monotherapy response rates [above] 70% and even higher with an early study combining anti–PD-1 [therapy] with chemotherapy. As histone deacetylase inhibitors [HDACi] have been shown to re-activate Epstein-Barr virus in extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma, possibly making them more susceptible to immune recognition, this frontline trial may show even higher complete remission rates than [those seen with] earlier combinations and eventually become a standard of care.

Abstract 7015: Glofitamab plus gemcitabine and oxaliplatin (Glofit-GemOx) in patients (pts) with relapsed/refractory (R/R) diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL): 2-year (yr) follow-up of STARGLO

Brody: Although this is 'only' a follow-up report of the remarkable data recently published in The Lancet,2 it is an important one: prior data showed an overall survival improvement compared [with] standard chemotherapy, but the median follow-up was not long enough to assess whether the progression-free survival curve is beginning to plateau—something we may begin to see now by following these patients for years.

References

1. Protagonist and Takeda announce positive topline results from phase 3 VERIFY study of rusfertide in patients with polycythemia vera. News release. Protagonist Therapeutics and Takeda. March 3, 2025. Accessed May 16, 2025. https://www.takedaoncology.com/news/news-releases/positive-topline-results-from-verify-study/
2. Abramson JS, Ku M, Hertzberg M, et al. Glofitamab plus gemcitabine and oxaliplatin (GemOx) versus rituximab-GemOx for relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (STARGLO): a global phase 3, randomised, open-label trial. Lancet. 2024;404(10466):1940-1954. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(24)01774-4