Blinatumomab confirmed as treatment option in MRD+ ALL

She said the next step for this trial is to investigate whether high MRD response translates into long-term clinical benefit such as continued molecular remission and long-term survival.

“For me personally, this trial is very important because it is an up-to-date trial where we used PCR-based methods to identify patients with a high risk of relapse and treat them before the relapse occurs,” Dr Gökbuget said. “[W]e used a new endpoint, which is also MRD based, and . . . we used a new, non-chemotherapy treatment to eradicate this highly resistant, persistent ALL subclone.”

Blinatumomab received US Food and Drug Administration approval a few days before the start of the ASH Annual Meeting.

The BLAST trial was funded by Amgen Inc., the company developing blinatumomab.