Martin Moorhead on Role of Minimal Residual Disease in Leukemia and Lymphoma

Martin Moorhead, PhD, Senior Vice President, Research & Development at Adaptive Biotechnologies Corp, discusses the role of minimal residual disease (MRD) in leukemia and lymphoma.

MRD is a hot topic right now in hematological malignancies, says Moorhead. Key opinion leaders are using it in their clinical research and there is a strong use of it in clinical trials.

MRD is being used as a surrogate endpoint to allow earlier readout of trials, says Moorhead. This is because as agents become more and more effective, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) endpoints take a longer time. A surrogate endpoint is very important for pharmaceutical companies to get results in a timelier fashion, says Moorhead.