Prioritizing Patients: Dr. Pemmaraju’s MPN Highlights From ASCO 2019

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Rebecca Seago-Coyle:

Hey, everyone.  I'm Rebecca with Patient Power, and I'm here with Dr. Pemmaraju from MD Anderson.  He's here—he's an MPN specialist, and he's here at ASCO learning what's new for you guys to take away.  

So, Dr. Pemmaraju, tell us, why are you here at ASCO, and why is it important?  

Dr. Pemmaraju:

Well, thanks for asking. ASCO has now become the largest cancer conference in the entire world, not just the United States, so anywhere from 20- to 40,000 of us are here every year now in Chicago.  The main reason I'm here is to bring knowledge and possibly hope back home for our patients, for our colleagues and for other researchers around the world.  This is an important time to make time to be here to bring those discoveries back home. 

Rebecca Seago-Coyle:

So tell me some of the key takeaways that you're hearing here at ASCO that our MPN immunity will need to know about.  

Dr. Pemmaraju:

Well, it's really exciting and interesting because obviously for us the blood cancer conferences have more focus on the research, such as ASH, American Society of Hematology, and EHA, European Hematology Association.  But here at ASCO, to the credit of the organizers, heem and heem malignancies really represent an important part of the conference, and at ASCO this week and weekend I'm excited to be able to hear from my colleagues, fellow investigators about what's going on with other JAK inhibitors beyond ruxolitinib (Jakafi) as they're in late stages of development, particularly the drugs of fedratinib, pacritinib, to name a few.  And so we'll be hearing some more analysis and results on some of those experiences here at ASCO.  

Rebecca Seago-Coyle:

So one of the themes for ASCO is caring for every patient and learning from every patient, so how do you feel like that relates to what you do in the clinic and in the lab?  

Dr. Pemmaraju:

Well, it speaks to my heart. I think that we as researchers have to remember what it is exactly we're getting up in the morning and what we're doing, and it's easy to get lost in the data and the numbers, but actually I try to remember for myself, for my team, for my patients, bring it back to the patient.  That's what it's all about.  That's why we got into this, all of us together, doctors, patient advocates, all of us.   

And so I think the biggest takeaway I can bring is I think it recenters it back on a patient-focused patient-centered approach, begin, middle, ending, all about our patients. And if you do that, for example, like Ruben Mesa did with the symptom burden scale in MPNs, that speaks to a lot of our viewers, then you can always guide your research, good days and bad days, negative data, positive data, it's always about the patient.  

Please remember the opinions expressed on Patient Power are not necessarily the views of our sponsors, contributors, partners or Patient Power. Our discussions are not a substitute for seeking medical advice or care from your own doctor. That’s how you’ll get care that’s most appropriate for you.