POS0315 LONG-TERM SAFETY AND EFFICACY OF LENABASUM DURING 3 YEARS IN AN OPEN-LABEL EXTENSION (OLE) OF A PHASE 2 STUDY OF LENABASUM IN REFRACTORY SKIN DISEASE IN DERMATOMYOSITIS (DM)

Background:

Lenabasum is a synthetic, non-immunosuppressive, selective cannabinoid receptor type 2 agonist that activates resolution of inflammation. Lenabasum had acceptable safety and tolerability and improved efficacy outcomes in the initial 16-week double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled Part A of Phase 2 trial JBT101-DM-001 (NCT02466243) in DM subjects with refractory skin involvement. In that study, lenabasum or placebo was added to stable background treatment, with immunosuppressive therapies allowed.

Objectives:

To assess long-term safety and efficacy in DM subjects in this study.

Methods:

Subjects who completed Part A of the Phase 2 study (n = 22) were eligible to receive oral lenabasum 20 mg BID in an open-label extension (OLE) that assessed safety and efficacy at 4 weeks, then every 8 weeks.

Results:

20/22 (91%) eligible subjects enrolled in the OLE, following a mean interval of 31 weeks from the end of Part A, during which they continued to receive standard-of care treatments, to the start of the OLE during which lenabasum 20 mg BID was added. 17/20 (85%) subjects were on stable baseline immunosuppressive drugs. At the time of this data cut-off, 17 subjects were still enrolled, 17 had completed 140 months (2.7 years), and 15 had completed 156 months (3 years) of OLE dosing.

All OLE subjects experienced at least 1 adverse event (AE), with 118 AEs during the OLE through Dec 2020. Most AEs were mild (n = 111, 94%), with 2 severe AEs (fatigue and metastatic prostate cancer) considered unrelated to lenabasum. AEs occurring in ≥ 3/20 OLE subjects were: URI (n = 5); fatigue (n = 4); nausea (n = 3); common cold (n = 3); UTI (n = 3); and DM flare (n = 3). No serious AEs related to lenabasum have been reported in this OLE to date. No subject discontinued the OLE because of an AE related to lenabasum.

Improvement was seen in multiple physician- and patient-reported efficacy outcomes. CDASI activity score improved through the first 15 months of lenabasum treatment in the OLE and remained stable thereafter, with an improvement of ~20 points from the beginning of the study maintained from Month 15 through Year 3 in the OLE. CDASI damage score increased through the first year of the OLE, even though skin activity was decreasing, but lessened thereafter, returning after 3 years to about the same level it was at the beginning of the OLE. Other outcomes shown in Figure 1 followed the same general pattern as CDASI activity score, with improvement through the first 12-16 months of the OLE, then stability thereafter. Of note, 2 subjects had disease flares shortly after stopping lenabasum for conclusion of the OLE.

Conclusion:

Lenabasum continues to have a favorable safety and tolerability profile in the OLE of the Phase 2 trial JBT101-DM-001 with no serious AEs or study discontinuations related to lenabasum. The CDASI activity score and multiple other physician and patient-reported outcomes improved and have remained stable, showing durability of improvement in these patients with refractory skin disease. Skin damage was reversible and began to improve once skin activity stabilized. The limitations of attributing this improvement to lenabasum in the setting of open-label dosing is acknowledged. These data support further testing of lenabasum for the treatment of DM, and a Phase 3 study of lenabasum in DM is ongoing.

Figure 1.

Change from Baseline in Selected Efficacy Outcomes in OLE of Phase 2 Trial JBT101-DM-001

Disclosure of Interests:

Victoria Werth Grant/research support from: Investigator for Corbus Pharmaceuticals and received funding to conduct trials, Josef Concha: None declared, Julie Burroughs: None declared, Joyce Okawa: None declared, Rui Feng: None declared, Anisha Jobanputra: None declared, Robert Borucki: None declared, Kathleen Hally Employee of: Employee of Corbus Pharmaceuticals, Emily Hejazi: None declared, Michael Tillinger Employee of: Employee of Corbus Pharmaceuticals, Scott Constantine Employee of: Employee of Corbus Pharmaceuticals, Nancy Dgetluck Employee of: Employee of Corbus Pharmaceuticals, Barbara White Employee of: Employee and stockholder of Corbus Pharmaceuticals

A Culturally-Specific Dietary Plan To Manage Weight Gain among African American Breast Cancer Survivors: A Feasibility Study

Background. African American (AA) women are less likely to survive for five years after a breast cancer diagnosis than Caucasian women. The higher prevalence of obesity in AA women may contribute to this disparity. Weight gain following breast cancer treatment is one of the few modifiable risk factors for breast cancer recurrence and mortality. AA breast cancer survivors face unique cultural and economic barriers to adopting diets which reduce the likelihood of weight gain.Objective. To determine the feasibility of adopting and maintaining a culturally-specific low-fat eating plan in a population of low to middle income AA breast cancer survivors.Participants. AA women recruited through urban medical centers who were between 30 to 75 years old, had a confirmed diagnosis of stage 0, I, II, III, or IIIA primary breast cancer, and had incomes < $50,000 per year.Methods. A culturally-specific dietary intervention was developed, based on the Women's Intervention Nutrition Study (WINS), to reduce consumption of dietary fat to 25% of total calories, while increasing fruits and vegetables.Eligible participants were enrolled in a one-year feasibility study. Participants received the Culturally-Specific WINS Low-Fat Eating Plan (WLEP) and 8 individual nutritional counseling sessions with a trained diet technician, to help reduce and maintain their fat intake to 25% of total calories. The intervention also included bi-monthly educational group meetings and follow-up telephone contacts with diet technicians.Study Measures. Dietary patterns were assessed with 3-day food records at baseline and follow-up. Compliance with the Culturally-Specific WLEP was defined as 1) dietary fat intake ≤ 25% of total calories; and 2) at least 6 to 7 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Psychosocial factors and dietary biomarkers were also measured at baseline and follow-up to examine their association with study outcomes. Psychosocial factors included perceived susceptibility to recurrence, quality of life, and social support. Dietary biomarkers included weight, height, waist-hip circumference, blood pressure, lipids, serum fatty acid concentrations, insulin and insulin-like growth factors, glucose, and levels of sex hormone-binding globulins.Results. A total of 9 AA breast cancer survivors are enrolled and receiving the intervention. Baseline and six-month follow-up results for the psychosocial factors and dietary biomarkers associated with dietary compliance and weight maintenance will be reported in October 2009.Conclusions. A population of low to middle income AA breast cancer survivors with limited education and resources demonstrated compliance with the Culturally-Specific WLEP, thereby reducing their risk of cancer recurrence through diet. Procedures and data from this feasibility study will be used in a multi-center clinical trial of the Culturally-Specific WLEP.

Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(24 Suppl):Abstract nr 1053.

A critical look at nursing observations

Our experience has suggested that not only do nurses on hospital wards waste time making too many unnecessary clinical observations, but that it is very difficult to persuade them to modify the pattern of their practice. We therefore conducted a survey by questionnaire among trained nurses in one health district of their everyday ward practice and attitudes to clinical observations. This showed that whilst a majority of nurses questioned believe in the importance of routine observations for patient care, there is a lack of consistency in the criteria and communication procedures used that must seriously limit the value of the information obtained by the individual nurse. We believe that uncritical faith in routine observations is a barrier to rationalizing procedures to optimize efficient use of the professional skills of ward nurses in this regard. There is need for more thought to be given to the problem and in particular it is important that doctors play a more active role in decision making.

Progenitor content of autologous grafts: mobilized bone marrow vs mobilized blood

The progenitor content of autologous peripheral blood progenitor and stem cell collections is a major determinant of prompt hematopoietic recovery following autologous stem cell transplantation. We analyzed unstimulated bone marrow (BM) and peripheral blood (PB) apheresis products in comparison to those collected following G-CSF or GM-CSF stimulation. We quantitated their committed (CFU-GM) and primitive (long-term culture-initiating cells, LTC-IC) progenitors in relation to hematologic recovery in 63 patients undergoing autografting for lymphoid malignancies. G-CSF, but not GM-CSF, substantially enriched the committed progenitor content (2.5-3.6-fold) of both PB and BM grafts. G-CSF also enriched the LTC-IC content of BM and PB compared to control grafts. GM-CSF augmented (11.5-fold) the LTC-IC content of stimulated BM, but not GM-CSF-mobilized PB. Neutrophil recovery was substantially quicker in recipients of BM or PB mobilized with G-CSF or GM-CSF. In contrast, red cell and platelet recovery was accelerated in recipients of GM-CSF-stimulated BM (but not PB) and G-CSF-stimulated PB (but not BM). No direct correlation between progenitor dose and hematopoietic recovery for neutrophils, platelets or red cells was observed. Cytokine stimulation can augment the committed and more primitive multilineage progenitor content of BM and PB grafts, to a differing extent. The uncertain relationship with multilineage myeloid recovery emphasizes the limitations in using clonogenic progenitor analyses to assess the adequacy of an autologous graft prior to transplantation.

Hematopoietic growth factors for graft failure after bone marrow transplantation: a randomized trial of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) versus sequential GM-CSF plus granulocyte-CSF

Delay in hematologic recovery after bone marrow transplantation (BMT) can extend and amplify the risks of infection and hemorrhage, compromise patients' survival, and increase the duration and cost of hospitalization. Because current studies suggest that granulocyte-macrophage (GM) colony-stimulating factor (CSF) may potentiate the sensitivity of hematopoietic progenitor cells to G-CSF, we performed a prospective, randomized trial comparing GM-CSF (250 micrograms/m2/d x 14 days) versus sequential GM-CSF x 7 days followed by G-CSF (5 micrograms/kg/d x 7 days) as treatment for primary or secondary graft failure after BMT. Eligibility criteria included failure to achieve a white blood cell (WBC) count > or = 100/microL by day +21 or > or = 300/microL by day +28, no absolute neutrophil count (ANC) > or = 200/microL by day +28, or secondary sustained neutropenia after initial engraftment. Forty-seven patients were enrolled: 23 received GM-CSF (10 unrelated, 8 related allogeneic, and 5 autologous), and 24 received GM-CSF followed by G-CSF (12 unrelated, 7 related allogeneic, and 5 autologous). For patients receiving GM-CSF alone, neutrophil recovery (ANC > or = 500/microL) occurred between 2 and 61 days (median, 8 days) after therapy, while those receiving GM-CSF+G-CSF recovered at a similar rate of 1 to 36 days (median, 6 days; P = .39). Recovery to red blood cell (RBC) transfusion independence was slow, occurring 6 to 250 days (median, 35 days) after enrollment with no significant difference between the two treatment groups (GM-CSF: median, 30 days; GM-CSF+G-CSF; median, 42 days; P = .24). Similarly, platelet transfusion independence was delayed until 4 to 249 days (median, 32 days) after enrollment, with no difference between the two treatment groups (GM-CSF: median, 28 days; GM-CSF+G-CSF: median, 42 days; P = .38). Recovery times were not different between patients with unrelated donors and those with related donors or autologous transplant recipients. Survival at 100 days after enrollment was superior after treatment with GM-CSF alone. Only 1 of 23 patients treated with GM-CSF died versus 7 of 24 treated with GM-CSF+G-CSF who died 16 to 84 days (median, 38 days) after enrollment, yielding Kaplan-Meier 100-day survival estimates of 96% +/- 8% for GM-CSF versus 71% +/- 18% for GM-CSF+G-CSF (P = .026). These data suggest that sequential growth factor therapy with GM-CSF followed by G-CSF offers no advantage over GM-CSF alone in accelerating trilineage hematopoiesis or preventing lethal complications in patients with poor graft function after BMT.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Diffusible factors from the murine cell line M2-10B4 support human in vitro hematopoiesis

Significantly more primitive human hematopoietic progenitors are maintained and differentiate when cultured separately from the stroma by a microporous membrane ("stroma-noncontact" cultures) than when cultured in direct contact with stromal layers ("stroma-contact" cultures). This suggests that diffusible stroma-derived factors may be sufficient for the in vitro induction of progenitor proliferation and differentiation. To further characterize stroma-derived factors that maintain long-term bone marrow culture initiating cells (LTBMC-IC), we compared the hematopoietic supportive capacity of human marrow stroma with that of the murine marrow stroma-derived fibroblast cell line M2-10B4 as well as two embryonic fibroblast cell lines, the human FHS-173-WE and the murine NIH-3T3 cell lines. We demonstrate that LTBMC-IC, present in human CD34+/HLA-DR- (DR- cells), are maintained equally well and give rise to similar numbers of committed progenitors, that is--colony-forming cells (CFC)--when cultured in contact with human marrow stroma or any cell line feeder (stroma-contact cultures). LTBMC-IC, cultured in marrow stroma or M2-10B4 stroma-noncontact cultures, were maintained significantly better and gave rise to significantly more CFC than when cultured in human marrow stroma or M2-10B4 contact cultures. However, LTBMC-IC maintenance and differentiation in FHS-173-WE or NIH-3T3 noncontact cultures was significantly less than in human marrow stroma or M2-10B4 noncontact cultures. These studies indicate that systematic comparison of diffusible growth stimulatory factors in conditioned media from M2-10B4 cells and FHS-173-WE may lead to the characterization of growth regulatory factors required for in vitro maintenance and differentiation of human primitive LTBMC-IC. Since diffusible factors from the M2-10B4 cell line can support human hematopoiesis, our observations may also have important implications for in vitro stem cell expansion protocols.

A critical look at nursing observations

Our experience has suggested that not only do nurses on hospital wards waste time making too many unnecessary clinical observations, but that it is very difficult to persuade them to modify the pattern of their practice. We therefore conducted a survey by questionnaire among trained nurses in one health district of their everyday ward practice and attitudes to clinical observations. This showed that whilst a majority of nurses questioned believe in the importance of routine observations for patient care, there is a lack of consistency in the criteria and communication procedures used that must seriously limit the value of the information obtained by the individual nurse. We believe that uncritical faith in routine observations is a barrier to rationalizing procedures to optimize efficient use of the professional skills of ward nurses in this regard. There is need for more thought to be given to the problem and in particular it is important that doctors play a more active role in decision making.

Distinguishing cerebrospinal fluid abnormalities in children with bacterial meningitis and traumatic lumbar puncture

The characteristics of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) associated with traumatic lumbar puncture, defined as CSF red blood cell (RBC) count greater than 1000/mm3, were reviewed in 92 previously healthy children greater than 1 month of age; 30 had bacterial meningitis and 62 had negative CSF cultures. The purpose was to distinguish CSF profiles of the two groups despite contamination with peripheral blood elements. In each case, white blood cell (WBC) counts were observed (O) and compared with those predicted (P), calculated as P = CSF RBC X (blood WBC/blood RBC). Comparison of O:P ratios revealed that all 30 patients with bacterial meningitis had ratios greater than or equal to 1, 28 (93%) had ratios greater than 10, and 24 (80%) had ratios greater than 100; by contrast, only 2 patients (3%) with culture-negative CSF had ratios greater than 10, 21 (34%) had ratios of 1-10, and 39 (63%) had ratios less than 1. Significant differences were observed in the rate of O:P ratio greater than or equal to 1 (100% vs. 32%), CSF differential cell count predominance of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (97% vs. 11%), hypoglycorrhachia (73% vs. 3%), and positive Gram's-stained smear for pathologic organisms (80% vs. 0) in those with and without bacterial meningitis, respectively (P less than .0001). Thus, in children greater than 1 month of age, CSF abnormalities associated with bacterial meningitis are rarely obscured by blood contamination from traumatic lumbar puncture.

Relapse following discontinuation of lithium maintenance therapy in adolescents with bipolar I illness: a naturalistic study

The authors conducted an 18-month naturalistic prospective follow-up study of 37 adolescents whose bipolar I illness had been stabilized with lithium carbonate during inpatient hospitalization. Thirteen of the patients discontinued prophylactic lithium therapy shortly after discharge. The relapse rate of bipolar illness in these 13 patients was nearly three times higher than the rate in patients who continued lithium prophylaxis without interruption. Early relapse among lithium-treated patients was associated with a greater risk of relapsing again. The authors discuss the theoretical and clinical implications of these findings.

A family study of bipolar I disorder in adolescence. Early onset of symptoms linked to increased familial loading and lithium resistance

Lifetime rates of psychiatric illness were compared in relatives of adolescent probands with bipolar I disorder and in relatives of age-matched schizophrenic controls. Familial aggregation of major affective disorders was observed in bipolar probands, the rate of bipolar I disorder greatly exceeding that reported in relatives of adult bipolar probands. Adolescent probands with childhood onset of psychiatric disturbance were distinguished from probands who had no premorbid childhood psychiatric abnormality in two ways: (1) significantly increased aggregation of bipolar I disorder in first-degree relatives; and (2) poorer antimanic response to lithium carbonate. These data underscore important heterogeneity in adolescent-onset bipolar disorder.

Sjögren's syndrome in a young adult

Sjögren's syndrome is very uncommon in young adults and children. Young patients who have connective tissue disorders should be observed carefully for any signs of this condition. Recurring parotitis, especially in females, should trigger a high index of suspicion that salivary stasis is occurring and that Sjögren's syndrome may be present. Young patients who are diagnosed as having Sjögren's syndrome should be followed very carefully because they are at much greater risk to develop lymphoma.

A controlled family study of anorexia nervosa

A family study of eating disorders in first and second-degree relatives of anorexia nervosa and nonanorexic psychiatrically ill control probands found increased rates of anorexia-nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and subclinical anorexia nervosa in relatives of anorexic probands. The pattern of familial clustering suggests that these disorders may represent variable expressions of a common underlying psychopathology, although restricter and bulimic subforms of eating disorder may segregate within families. Implications of these findings for understanding factors important to the pathogenesis and subclassification of eating disorders are discussed.

Anorexia nervosa. An affective disorder?

Follow-up data on 26 patients hospitalized during adolescence for anorexia nervosa are presented. The mean length of follow-up was 4.9 years. There were no mortalities. Only one patient at the time of follow-up was still possibly anorexic. However, a substantial number of the patients did have other eating difficulties. Most striking was the clinical psychopathology present at follow-up, particularly the incidence of affective disorder. A large number of patients manifested depressive symptomatology in both the premorbid and the postmorbid states, as well as at the time of follow-up. A family history of affective disorder was particularly common in the mothers of the anorexic patients. Data from this study are consistent with the hypothesis that there is a strong relationship between anorexia nervosa and affective disorder.