News

Written by Stu Boland, Co-Leader of the Alberta Support Group. It was 1999 when a group of 12 skiers made their first trip to Chatter Creek, British Columbia for 3 days of back-country downhill skiing – a cat-skiing experience like no other.  Living conditions were very rustic.  Ski conditions were nothing short of exceptional!! The trip was organized by Cam Fraser and some of his friends. Stu Boland was invited to join the group.  Stu and Cam knew each other through a mutual friend.  Stu, and Cam and his wife Jane, lived a few blocks apart in Southwest Calgary.  [...]

Dr. Christine Chen from the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto presented at the recent Lymphoma Canada National Patient Conference on Lymphoma and CLL which was held on Oct.14th and 15th.  This was one of several "breakout" sessions in which different Lymphoma varieties were discussed; it was important that WM was chosen as one of them. Her 45 minute presentation covered the following WM topics: Clinical features of WM How to diagnose WM When to start treatment First-line treatment options Second-line treatments and beyond Special situations And the discussion of treatments is, of course, from a Canadian point of view. Click [...]

Our own Paul Kitchen, our past chair, provided an in-depth look into what it feels like to live with WM.  The interview touches on his familial connection with WM, his road to diagnosis, and his travel through various treatments. Read it here!

A recent review publication from the experts at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston summarizes the most common adverse effects that occur during treatment.  The article was published in the journal, "Expert Opinion on Drug Safety". A summary box in the publication states: There are several  effective  and  safe  options  for  the  treatment  of Waldenström macroglobulinemia although patients should be closely monitored  during  therapy  for  the  emergence  of  treatment-specific side effects. Reduction in the  number  of  rituximab-bendamustine  treatment cycles may prevent toxicity without compromising disease outcomes. The frequency of bortezomib dosing and the manner of administration can be altered to decrease [...]

The WhiMSICAL registry, built through a patient-clinician investigator partnership, is a global database for WM patients to enter their own data.  Results of the WhiMSICAL study have just been published in the prestigious American Journal of Hematology (see https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajh.26173).  Key findings include the longest time to next treatment after 1st line therapy in patients treated with bendamustine rituximab, and a better quality of life in those on BTK inhibitors compared to recent chemotherapy. Over 450 patients from 19 countries contributed to this first global registry for WM.  Thank you to all who entered their data into the WhiMSICAL Registry.  Your efforts [...]

Two summaries have recently appeared in the technical press, discussing the surprising results after 5 years of followup from a randomized trial involving Ibrutinib + Rituximab vs. placebo + Rituximab.  The surprise is not that the drug combination provides superior numbers.  The surprise is that the combination apparently acts independently of the patient's mutation status, unlike Ibrutinib alone. The data were presented at the recent American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting. See the coverage in CureToday: Coverage in CureToday Or in Targeted Oncology: Coverage in Targeted Oncology

An article entitled "2020 Update on Management and Future Directions" was published in the journal "Clinical Lymphoma, Myeloma and Leukemia".  You can see it here. 2020 Update on Management of WM

The latest consensus on treatment recommendations has been published, from the tenth International Workshop for Waldenström Macroglobulinaemia (IWWM-10).  These consensus documents are, or should be, the basis for treatment everywhere.  National drug approvals, and provincial funding decisions, should (in theory) be in broad agreement with this. IWWM Consensus Guidelines -- 2020

Although this may appear as "another commercial press release from a drug company", this goes a little bit deeper for WM patients in Canada.  Beigene, having received priority status with Health Canada, is pursuing their approval for its 2nd-generation BTK-inhibitor, Zanubrutinib (Brukinsa®), for the treatment of WM.  Once Health Canada's review is complete, and assuming it is accepted, then Zanubrutinib would be on the same footing for WM patients in Canada as Ibrutinib.  Beigene will then apply to pCODR (see our very brief explanation of How Cancer Drugs Are Approved and Funded in Canada on our Canadian Questions Page), seeking [...]