This third webinar of 2024 presented by the Palliative Care SIG will focus on lessons learned in the field and important research questions that must be answered in the future to further advance the science of palliative and supportive care to meet the needs of patients throughout the continuum of the illness.

Speakers:

Areej El-Jawhari, MD. Massachusetts General Hospital

Susan McInnes, MD, Cleveland Clinic

Effie Petersdorf, MD, University of Washington

Moderator:

Christina Ullrich, MD, MPH, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

The ASTCT Pharmacy SIG September 2024 Journal Club will air on Wednesday, September 11, 2024 at 2 pm CDT/3 pm EDT. This webinar consists of two, 30-minute journal club presentations, which include 20 minutes for the presentation and 10 minutes for discussion and a Q&A session. In the September Journal Club session, Drs. Sawiris and Held will present on two articles related to: (a) Exagamglogene Autotemcel for severe sickle cell disease and (b) Safety and efficacy of eltrombopag for platelet engraftment after haploidentical bone marrow transplant. This session is intended for pharmacists and other members of the health care team who are involved in managing patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplant or cell and gene therapy.

Presenters & Articles

Monica Sawiris, PharmD

PGY-2 Pharmacy Resident

Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist

Article: Exagamglogene Autotemcel for Severe Sickle Cell Disease

Hailey Held, PharmD

PGY-2 Pharmacy Resident

UW Health - Carbone Cancer Center

Article: Eltrombopag improves platelet engraftment after haploidentical bone marrow transplantation: Results of a Phase II study

Session Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of the activity, participants should be able to:

• Explain the pathophysiology of sickle cell disease and limitations of existing treatments
• Define the mechanism of action of Exagamglogene autotemcel (exa-cel)
• Discuss safety and efficacy of Exagamglogene autotemcel (exa-cel) use in sickle cell disease
• Explore benefits and challenges associated with Exagamglogene autotemcel (exa-cel) use in sickle cell disease
• Describe the typical timeline for platelet engraftment after a haploidentical bone marrow transplant, risks associated with delayed engraftment, and supportive care options
• Review safety and efficacy of eltrombopag for platelet engraftment after a haploidentical bone marrow transplant
• Summarize the potential benefit and risk to patient if using eltrombopag to enhance platelet engraftment

ACCREDITED PROVIDER

This activity is jointly provided by The France Foundation and American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT).

In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by The France Foundation and American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT). The France Foundation is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

CREDIT DESIGNATION

Pharmacists

This knowledge-based activity, UAN JA0007204-9999-24-088-L01-P, qualifies for 1.0 contact hours (0.10 CEUs) of continuing pharmacy education credit. Please submit all evaluations and credit requests no later than 30 days after you complete this activity to ensure your credit fulfillment, as CE credit cannot be awarded past 60 days from the activity date. Your CE credits will be electronically submitted to the NABP upon successful completion of the activity. Pharmacists with questions can contact NABP customer service (custserv@nabp.net).

All other healthcare professionals completing this course will be issued a statement of participation.

The full CE information for this session can be found here. 

The 2024 CAR T Webinar Series debuted in June 2024, highlighting the Best of CAR T at the 2024 Tandem Meetings and new developments in CAR T Treatments. Recordings and slides from the live webinars have been posted here for your easy viewing.

Thank you to Johnson & Johnson and Legend Biotech for their generous support of this webinar series.

The New Developments in CAR T Treatments webinar is the second and final session in this two-part CAR T webinar series. This session aired on Tuesday, September 10, at 12 p.m. CDT and featured two presentations from Drs. Bachanova and Rouce on new developments in NK Cells and Point of Care Manufacturing. This hour-long webinar had two twenty-minute talks with the remaining time used for audience Q&A. The session is open and free to all ASTCT members and non-members. 

Topics and Speakers:

NK Cells

Veronika Bachanova, MD, PhD; University of Minnesota

Point of Care Manufacturing

Rayne Rouce, MD, BS; Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children's

Thank you to Johnson & Johnson and Legend Biotech for their generous support of this webinar series.

Join ASTCT Director of Government Relations, Alycia Maloney, JD and Reimbursement and Policy Advisors from Nimitt Consulting for a webinar on Medicare rule updates on August 14 at 12 p.m. CDT/1 p.m. EDT. 

This webinar will cover:

• FY 2025 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) Final Rule:
  • Final payment rates and policies for key MS-DRGs for Stem Cell Transplant MS-DRGs (014, 016 and 017) and CAR-T and Other Immunotherapies (MS-DRG 018)
  •  Final decisions on the CMS proposal for changes to the New Technology Add-on Payment (NTAP) for gene therapies for Sickle Cell Disease
  • Final outlier fixed loss threshold and market basket update amounts
• Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) Proposed Rule:
  • Payment updates to CAR-T and SCT codes
• Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) Proposed Rule:
  • New codes and payment updates applicable to ASTCT member physicians

There will be a Q&A section at the end of the webinar, so be sure to register and submit any questions in advance that you would like answered during the webinar to info@astct.org. If you are unable to join, the recording will be made available. 

Please consider sharing this webinar with your network of doctors, administrators, providers, or any other colleagues that may be interested.

The Advanced Practice Providers SIG hosted a webinar on 'Autologous Gene Editing for Sickle Cell Disease and Transfusion Dependent Beta Thalassemia' on Thursday, July 18, at 2 p.m. CDT. This webinar is open to all ASTCT members and non-members. Please note that there is no CME offered for attending this webinar. 

Speaker:

Haydar Frangoul, MD, MS; Program Director, Sarah Cannon Pediatric Hematology/Oncology & Cellular Therapy @TriStar Centennial

Session Learning Objectives:

• Understand importance of elevated fetal hemoglobin in SCD and TDT
• Review gene editing technology to induce fetal hemoglobin
• Review gene therapy patient journey
• Understand indications for gene editing in SCD and TDT
• Review the updated results for gene therapy  
• Understand toxicities related to gene editing therapy

The Best of CAR T at the 2024 Tandem Meetings webinar was the first in a two-part CAR T webinar series. This session aired on Thursday, June 27, at 3 p.m. CDT and highlighted three talks from the 2024 Tandem Meetings of ASTCT and CIBMTR. This hour-long webinar had three fifteen-minute talks with the remaining fifteen minutes used for audience Q&A. The session is open and free to all ASTCT members and non-members. 

Presentations and Speakers:

Outpatient CAR-T in Action: Models for Staffing and Overcoming Challenges

David Porter, MD; Director, Center for Cell Therapy and Transplant, University of Pennsylvania

Role of the Microbiome in Resistance to CAR-T cell Therapies

Melody Smith, MD; Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, Stanford University School of Medicine

CAR T-cells and Late-Effects, Including Secondary Malignancy

Aimee Talleur, MD; Assistant Member, Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

If you're interested in viewing/purchasing the full session recordings from the 2024 Tandem Meetings of ASTCT and CIBMTR, please click here.

Thank you to Johnson & Johnson and Legend Biotech for their generous support of this webinar series.

The ASTCT Pharmacy SIG June 2024 Journal Club will air on Wednesday, June 5, 2024 at 2 pm CDT/3 pm EDT. This webinar consists of two, 30-minute journal club presentations, which include 20 minutes for the presentation and 10 minutes for discussion and a Q&A session. In the June Journal Club session, Drs. Krajewski and Sowell will present on two articles related to: (a)efficacy and safety of extended duration letermovir prophylaxis in recipients of hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation and (b)gilteritinib as post-transplant maintenance for acute myeloid leukemia. This session is intended for pharmacists and other members of the health care team who are involved in managing patients undergoing CAR T-cell therapy or hematopoietic stem cell transplant.

Presenters & Articles

Kristyn Krajewski, PharmD

PGY-2 Pharmacy Resident

Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania

Article: Gilteritinib as Post-Transplant Maintenance for Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Internal Tandem Duplication Mutation of FLT3

Hunter Sowell, PharmD

PGY-2 Pharmacy Resident

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Article: Efficacy and safety of extended duration letermovir prophylaxis in recipients of hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation at risk of cytomegalovirus infection: a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial

Session Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of the activity, participants should be able to:

1. Review impact of FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) mutation on prognosis and treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
2. Evaluate efficacy and safety of gilteritinib as post-transplant maintenance for AML with FLT3-internal tandem duplication (ITD) mutation.
3. Identify patients who are most likely to benefit from post-transplant gilteritinib maintenance.
4. Review cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection prophylaxis strategies following hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT).
5. Analyze the efficacy and safety of extended duration letermovir prophylaxis following HSCT in patients at risk of CMV infection.
6. Explore the utility of extended duration letermovir for CMV prophylaxis following HSCT.

ACCREDITED PROVIDER

This activity is jointly provided by The France Foundation and American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT).

In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by The France Foundation and American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT). The France Foundation is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

CREDIT DESIGNATION

Pharmacists

This knowledge-based activity, qualifies for 1.0 contact hours (0.10 CEUs) of continuing pharmacy education credit. Please submit all evaluations and credit requests no later than 30 days after you complete this activity to ensure your credit fulfillment, as CE credit cannot be awarded past 60 days from the activity date. Your CE credits will be electronically submitted to the NABP upon successful completion of the activity. Pharmacists with questions can contact NABP customer service (custserv@nabp.net).

All other healthcare professionals completing this course will be issued a statement of participation.

The full CE information for this session can be found here.

This webinar is the second in a series of three presented by the ASTCT Palliative Care SIG. 

In this session, the speakers will review the evidence base on subspecialty palliative care for improving outcomes in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and adoptive cellular therapy, and also review the active components of palliative care interventions and how to best integrate them into practice.

Speakers:

Dr. Thomas W. LeBlanc, MD, MA, MHS, FAAHPM, FASCO
Associate Professor of Medicine with Tenure
Duke Cancer Institute

Deena Levine, MD FAAP FAAHPM
Interim Division Director
Medical Director - QOLA Service 
Division of Quality of Life and Palliative Care
Department of Oncology
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Jason A. Webb, M.D., DFAPA, FAAHPM, FACP (he/him)
Section Chief, Palliative Care, Division of Hematology & Medical Oncology
Quality Medical Director, Palliative Care, OHSU Health
Associate Professor of Medicine & Psychiatry
OHSU School of Medicine

Join ASTCT Director of Government Relations, Alycia Maloney, JD, and the reimbursement and policy advisors to ASTCT from Nimitt Consulting, for the Medicare FY 2025 IPPS Proposed Rule webinar on May 15 at 12 p.m. CDT.

Maloney and Nimitt will cover multiple CMS proposals for FY 2025, including the following key points:

• Proposed increases to the MS-DRG base payment rates for stem cell transplant and CAR-T/Other Immunotherapy inpatient Medicare cases, including the following:
  • Allogeneic HSCT (DRG 014) payment rate of $93,891, which is approximately $11,000 more than FY 2024
  • Autologous HSCT (DRGs 016 & 017) payment rate of $43,068, which is a slight decrease from the FY 2024 payment rate of $43,249
    • The recently approved gene therapies for sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia are mapped to these MS-DRGs
  • MS-DRG 018 payment rate of $274,413 – an increase of approximately $16,000 from FY 2024
    • MS-DRG 018 reduced payment rate of approximately $93,000 for clinical trial
• Proposed Fixed Loss Outlier Threshold amount of $49,237 – an additional loss of approximately $7,000 per case from FY 2024
• Proposed changes to the New Technology Add-on Payment policies and processes
  • Proposal to pay up to 75% of the determined product cost for gene therapies used to treat sickle cell disease
  • Modification of the third-year anniversary date for a potential third year of NTAP eligibility from April 1 to October 1 (would be effective for FY 2026, not FY 2025) 

Comments can be submitted to CMS via https://www.regulations.gov and are due by June 10, 2024.

There will be a Q&A section at the end of the webinar, so be sure to register and submit any questions in advance that you would like answered during the webinar to info@astct.org. If you are unable to join, the recording will be made available. 

Please consider sharing this webinar with your network of physicians, administrators, providers, or any other colleagues that may be interested.