With the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference wrapping up, many are turning their attention to key readouts in the blood cancer space, with focus darting from more common indications like chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) and multiple myeloma to rare conditions like myelofibrosis.
As haematological malignancies generate a buzz at ASCO 2026, Clinical Trials Arena highlights the key readouts from the disease area.
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BeOne’s Brukinsa touts long-term CLL control in 78-month data
At the conference, BeOne debuted long-term data from the Phase III SEQUOIA study (NCT03336333), which was pitting its Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor, Brukinsa (zanibrutinib), against standard of care (SoC) bendamustine plus rituximab (BR) in patients with frontline chronic lymphocytic leukaemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL).
After 78 months of treatment, the progression-free survival (PFS) rate amongst patients on Bukinsa was 71.8% – besting the 31% PFS observed in patients in the BR arm. This PFS rate was even higher in patients who had mutations in the gene segments associated with B-cell antibody production, with 81.8% of patients remaining progression-free at 78 weeks, versus 45.1% in the BR arm.
Meanwhile, trends in the time to next treatment favoured Brukinsa, and the drug’s safety profile remained consistent with that observed in other studies.
On top of this, BeOne claims that a new, real-world analysis has uncovered Brukinsa’s potential to significantly lower a patient’s risk of death, advancing to the next line of therapy, or discontinuing treatment compared toAbbVie and Johnson & Johnson’s Imbruvica (ibrutinib) or Calquence (acalabrutinib), with similar results observed across age subgroups.
According to BeOne’s haematology CMO, Amit Agarwal, these findings are significant, as the best measure of a therapy’s benefit is “how it performs over the long arc of treatment,” due to CLL’s often chronic nature.
“Our data at ASCO show that Brukinsa continues to deliver sustained disease control, which can give physicians and patients confidence to stay the course,” Agarwal said. “Robust, real-world analyses reinforce its role as a best-in-class BTK inhibitor, with data favouring Brukinsa over other BTK inhibitors across several efficacy and safety endpoints,” he added.
Karyopharm’s Xpovio shows SoC-joining potential in myelofibrosis
In the world of myelofibrosis, a rare bone marrow cancer, Karyopharm shared data at ASCO 2026 that suggests its exportin-1 inhibitor, Xpovio (selinexor), could have an additive benefit over SoC Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors like Pfizer’s Jakafi (ruxolitinib), in symptomatic patients requiring treatment.
According to a topline readout of the Phase III SENTRY trial (NCT04562389), which is evaluating Xpovio’s combinatory potential with Jakafi in JAK inhibitor-naïve myelofibrosis, 50% of patients receiving Xpovio-Jakafi experienced a 35% or more reduction in spleen volume over 28% receiving Jakafi monotherapy – meeting the trial’s co-primary endpoint.
Researchers also observed an early overall survival (OS) signal in patients receiving the combination therapy compared with Jakafi alone (p=0.0222), which the drug’s creator, Karyopharm, will follow to maturity to further assess this signal.
However, the drug did not meet its key second primary endpoint of symptom response from baseline to week 24, with patients receiving the combination achieving a 10.86-point improvement in scores – a response which failed to best the 9.89-point improvement seen in the Jakafi monotherapy group.
Treatment discontinuation rates were also slightly higher in the Xpovio-Jakafi group, with 14.5% of those on the combination therapy dropping out of the study compared with 8.6% of patients in the Jakafi-only arm.
In a LinkedIn post, the Moffitt Cancer Center’s Andrew Kuykendall voiced his intrigue around the unprecedented early survival benefit linked to Selinexor-ruxolitinib seen in the SENTRY trial, which he says will need to be looked into as more data comes out.
Cellectar Iopofosine triumphs in Waldenström Macroglobulinemia
In another key development at ASCO 2026 for the rare cancer space, Cellectar Biosciences has said it will file for the accelerated US approval of its radiopharmaceutical and phospholipid-drug conjugate (PDC), iopofosine I 131, after the drug posted a Phase IIb win in relapsed or refractory (R/R) Waldenström macroglobulinemia (WM).
In the CLOVER WaM study (NCT02952508), which enrolled R/R individuals with symptomatic disease who received more than two prior therapies, patients received the radiopharmaceutical immediately following treatment with a Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor.
After treatment, the overall response rate (ORR) among the 24 patients was 87.5%, with 79.2% achieving a partial response (PR) or better. The median duration of response (DOR) was 16 months and 20% of patients enrolled achieved a DOR of 30 months or longer.
Patients also tolerated Iopofosine I 131well, with the only treatment-related side effect reaching Grades3 or higher being cytopenia.
To confirm the drug’s benefit, Cellectar is conducting a confirmatory Phase III study on iopofosine I 131 in WM, which the company expects to begin in Q4 2026.
In a statement, Jarrod Longcor, Cellectar’s COO, noted that patients with post-BTK inhibitor disease often experience limited response and rapid disease progression after BTK inhibitor discontinuation – representing a notable unmet need.
“These outcomes give us even greater confidence in the potential of iopofosine to be effective in an earlier line setting as will be evaluated in the planned Phase 3 confirmatory study,” Longcor added.
AL amyloidosis sees much-awaited new developments
ASCO 2026 has also been a big year for light chain (AL) amyloidosis, as both Regeneron and AstraZeneca have debuted new data related to their drugs in late-stage development for the condition.
While AstraZeneca announced that its anti-fibril therapy, anselamimab, failed to meet its primary endpoint in a Phase III trial within the global CARES programme, the therapy did offer statistically significant benefits over placebo to adults with advanced kappa AL amyloidosis as a frontline therapy in addition to SoC.
As for Regeneron’s BCMA-CD3-directed bispecific, linvoseltamab, the potential of which is being explored in the Phase I/II LINKER AL-2 (NCT06292780), none of the 20 patients with R/R disease experienced any dose-limiting toxicity or immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS). However, one patient did die following a ventricular fibrillation event, which the investigator deemed unrelated to the study drug.
The drug also demonstrated promising early efficacy, with 100% and 92.3% of patients receiving the 80mg and 240mg doses achieving a haematologic objective response (hOR), respectively.
In a LinkedIn post, Jill Condello, senior VP of medical strategy at OPEN Health, noted that updates on AstraZeneca and Regeneron’s drugs “pointed to new, biology‑driven approaches in a space that has had very few options beyond standard plasma‑cell–directed regimens.”
Currently, Johnson & Johnson’s Darzalex Faspro (daratumumab and hyaluronidase-fihj) is the only drug that has specifically secured approval in AL amyloidosis – highlighting the need for new therapies that can benefit patients and improve outcomes.
