Publications by authors named "Kulasekararaj A"

We retrospectively analyzed a large international cohort of 1113 patients with aplastic anemia to evaluate treatment choice and outcome in elderly patients as compared with a younger population. Overall, 319 (29%) patients were > 60 years old at diagnosis (60-64 years (n = 85), 106 65-69 years (n = 106), and 128 > 70 years (n = 128)). Elderly patients showed a more severe thrombocytopenia at onset and a significantly lower overall response (complete plus partial) to first-line therapy at 6 months as compared to younger patients (47% vs.

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Ravulizumab is a second-generation complement component 5 (C5) inhibitor (C5i) approved for the treatment of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) following positive results from two pivotal trials in patients with PNH originally naive to C5i treatment and eculizumab-experienced patients with PNH. In both trials, after the 26week primary evaluation period, all patients received ravulizumab for up to 6 years. To report ravulizumab treatment outcomes in patients with PNH originally naive to C5i treatment and eculizumab-experienced patients with PNH treated for up to 6 years.

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Aims: Crovalimab is a novel C5 inhibitor administered first intravenously and then subcutaneously in patients with paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria (PNH) naive to complement inhibition or switching from eculizumab or ravulizumab. Crovalimab showed efficacy and safety comparable to eculizumab in the pivotal COMMODORE 2 and supporting studies.

Methods: We characterized crovalimab pharmacokinetics and the relationship between exposure pharmacokinetic parameters and pharmacodynamic biomarkers, efficacy and safety endpoints using pooled data (healthy volunteers [n = 9], naive [n = 210] and switched [n = 211] patients).

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Iptacopan, a first-in-class, oral, selective complement factor B inhibitor, demonstrated efficacy and safety as monotherapy in C5 inhibitor (C5i)-experienced (APPLY-PNH [NCT04558918]) and C5i-naive (APPOINT-PNH [NCT04820530]) patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). In APPLY-PNH and APPOINT-PNH, changes in fatigue (FACIT-Fatigue) and health-related quality of life (HRQOL; EORTC QLQ-C30) from baseline to Day 168 were evaluated. The proportion of patients achieving meaningful within-patient change (MWPC) on the FACIT-Fatigue and 4 EORTC QLQ-C30 subscales (physical functioning, role functioning, fatigue, dyspnea) was evaluated using anchor-based thresholds.

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Complement C5 inhibitor treatment with ravulizumab or eculizumab for paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) improves outcomes and survival. Some patients remain anemic due to clinically significant extravascular hemolysis (cs-EVH: hemoglobin [Hgb] ≤9.5 g/dL and absolute reticulocyte count [ARC] ≥120×109/L).

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Immunosuppressive therapy (IST) using horse antithymocyte globulin (h-ATG) combined with cyclosporine (CsA) and eltrombopag is the standard care for aplastic anemia (AA) in patients without a suitable matched donor. However, in many countries, h-ATG use has been discontinued, leaving rabbit ATG (r-ATG), which has a lower response rates and poorer survival, as the only alternative. In previous studies, alemtuzumab (ALZ), a humanized monoclonal antibody targeting CD52, combined with CsA resulted in an adequate ORR in AA patients.

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Introduction: Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) is a rare, acquired, non-malignant hematologic disease characterized by complement-mediated hemolysis (with or without hemoglobinuria), fatigue, increased susceptibility to thrombosis, and bone marrow dysfunction. The development of complement inhibitors has transformed outcomes for patients with PNH, but patients may still experience pharmacodynamic breakthrough hemolysis (BTH), which can be caused by exposure to a complement amplifying condition (CAC), such as vaccination, infection, or surgery.

Materials And Methods: A 13-member expert panel used a validated methodology (a RAND/UCLA modified Delphi panel) to develop consensus on how to classify pharmacodynamic BTH in patients with complement-inhibitor treated PNH.

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Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) is an acquired, rare, life-threatening hematopoietic stem cell disorder that causes stem cell-derived cells to be vulnerable to complement-mediated lysis and manifests as hemolytic anemia, thrombosis, and peripheral blood cytopenias. C5 inhibitors, eculizumab, and ravulizumab, are recognized as the current standard of care for PNH treatment in countries where they are available. Crovalimab (PiaSky®), which is approved for the treatment of PNH, is a novel anti-C5 inhibitor with an every-4-weeks, low-volume, subcutaneous maintenance dosing regimen with the possibility for self-administration.

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  • The WHO and International Consensus Classification 2022 aim to improve diagnosis and treatment decisions for myelodysplastic syndromes, but disparities in their implementation exist.
  • A panel of experts used a data-driven method and the Delphi consensus process to align the two classifications, focusing on genomic features to create harmonized labels for distinct clusters.
  • Key findings identified nine genomic clusters, with the most significant linked to biallelic TP53 inactivation, and highlighted the inadequacy of traditional morphological assessments in capturing the complexity of these diseases.
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  • Paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria (PNH) is a rare blood disorder causing serious issues due to chronic hemolysis and can significantly affect patients' quality of life.
  • A post hoc analysis evaluated the effectiveness of pegcetacoplan, a targeted complement C3 inhibitor, in PNH patients with poor bone marrow function from the PEGASUS and PRINCE studies.
  • Results showed that while normalisation of certain health parameters was challenging, a significant percentage of patients experienced clinically meaningful improvements in hemoglobin, LDH levels, and fatigue after treatment with pegcetacoplan.
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ABP 959 is a biosimilar to the eculizumab reference product (RP), which is approved for the treatment of patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). This multicenter, randomized, double-blind, active-controlled, two-period crossover study randomized eculizumab RP-treated patients with PNH to one of two treatment sequences (ABP 959/eculizumab RP or eculizumab RP/ABP 959) to evaluate the clinical similarity of ABP 959 when compared with eculizumab RP. This study evaluated the efficacy of ABP 959 when compared with eculizumab RP based on control of intravascular hemolysis as measured by lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and by the time-adjusted area under the effect curve of LDH.

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  • Crovalimab is a new C5 inhibitor that can be self-administered every four weeks and is being tested in a phase 3 trial against another treatment, eculizumab, for patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH).
  • The trial's focus shifted from efficacy to safety due to not meeting recruitment goals, and exploratory endpoints included various measures of patient health and satisfaction.
  • Results showed that while both treatments had adverse events, crovalimab showed sustained effectiveness and 85% of patients preferred it over eculizumab, suggesting it might be a more manageable treatment option for long-term PNH care.
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  • Advancements in understanding myelodysplastic neoplasms (MDS) have revealed important cellular and molecular factors that influence disease progression, highlighting the significance of immune dysregulation in the bone marrow during MDS evolution.
  • Despite these advancements, immunotherapy for MDS has lagged due to a lack of effective immune classifications for patient stratification and no widely accepted immune panels for clinical use.
  • To address these challenges, the i4MDS consortium proposes standardized immune monitoring approaches, including flow cytometry panels and cytokine assays, aiming to improve patient stratification and develop predictive markers for treatment response in MDS.
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Selecting the most suitable alternative donor becomes challenging in severe aplastic anemia (SAA) when a matched sibling donor (MSD) is unavailable. We compared outcomes in patients with SAA undergoing stem cell transplantation (SCT) from matched unrelated donors (MUD) (n = 1106), mismatched unrelated donors (MMUD) (n = 340), and haploidentical donors (Haplo) (n = 206) registered in the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation database (2012-2021). For Haplo SCT, only those receiving posttransplant cyclophosphamide for graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis were included.

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Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) is a rare hematologic disease of uncontrolled terminal complement activation leading to intravascular hemolysis, thrombotic events and increased morbidity and mortality. This phase 3, open-label, single-arm, multicenter study evaluated ravulizumab treatment in eculizumab-naive or -experienced pediatric patients (aged <18 years) with PNH over a 26-week primary evaluation period (PEP) and 4-year extension period (EP). Patients included in the study received weight-based intravenous ravulizumab dosing.

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  • The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected individuals with hematological malignancies due to their weakened immune systems, resulting in higher mortality rates and severe outcomes.
  • Data from the EPICOVIDEHA registry, which compiles COVID-19 cases from these patients worldwide, was collected from 2020 to 2022, including 8,767 cases from 152 centers across 41 countries.
  • Findings show a significant drop in critical infections and overall mortality rates, but hospitalization (especially in ICU) remains a serious risk factor; vaccination is linked to better survival outcomes, highlighting the need for ongoing monitoring and support for these patients.
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  • Iptacopan, an oral factor B inhibitor, shows promise in treating paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria patients suffering from persistent hemolytic anemia, especially those not responding to anti-C5 therapy.
  • In two phase 3 trials, iptacopan significantly improved hemoglobin levels in patients with low baseline hemoglobin (under 10 g/dL), with many experiencing increases of at least 2 g/dL without needing blood transfusions.
  • The results revealed that 85% of patients in the first trial and nearly all in the second trial experienced a notable increase in hemoglobin levels, leading to reduced fatigue and dependency on transfusions.
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