FCS Contributing To Breakthroughs In Treatment of Blood Cancers & Disorders

Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute, LLC (FCS) were selected for presentation at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition in Orlando. The gathering is regarded as the leading global meeting for top researchers and clinicians driving innovation in the treatment of blood cancers and blood disorders.

“Our commitment to discovery has yielded significant milestones in advancing the next generation of therapies for blood cancers and other hematologic conditions,” said FCS President & Managing Physician Lucio N. Gordan, MD.

One of the nation’s most extensive community-based oncology research programs, FCS provides access to advanced clinical trials across 29 locations in Florida, including three early-phase drug development units (DDUs). The majority of new cancer drugs approved in recent years for use in the U.S. underwent clinical trials involving FCS participation before gaining approval.

FCS was one of the initial two sites involved in the Phase 1 trial of pirtobrutinib, now regarded as a best-in-class targeted therapy for several blood cancers and the first next-generation BTK inhibitor approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in 2023 for mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), followed shortly by approvals for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL). In 2024, the FDA approved revumenib—a revolutionary therapy for relapsed or refractory acute leukemia—after it was first administered to an FCS patient.

Manish Patel, MD, FCS Director of Drug Development, has co-authored several abstracts on pirtobrutinib, including two selected for presentation at the ASH annual meeting:

• Pirtobrutinib in Relapsed/Refractory (R/R) Waldenström macroglobulinemia (WM): Up to 5 years of follow-up from the Phase 1/2 BRUIN study
• Pirtobrutinib in post-cbtki CLL/SLL: Final update from the Phase 1/2 BRUIN study with more than 5 years follow-up

Additionally, the following FCS hematologists and medical oncologists are co-authors of abstracts that will be presented in oral or poster presentations:

Gustavo Fonseca, MD, FACP, FCS Director of Research & Clinical Trials

• ANKRD26-related thrombocytopenia: Hematologic malignancy characteristics, clinical outcomes, and precursor states
• Asciminib (ASC) in chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic Phase (CML-CP): Interim analysis (IA) efficacy and safety results of the Phase 2 ASC2ESCALATE trial in the cohort of newly diagnosed (1L) patients (pts)

Shachar Peles, MD, FCS Director of Cell Therapy

• Fixed treatment duration subcutaneous mosunetuzumab monotherapy in elderly/unfit patients with previously untreated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: Interim results from the Phase II MorningSun study

Jeffrey Bubis, DO, FACOI, FACP

• Optimizing processes for adverse event management for bispecific antibodies for diffuse large b-cell lymphoma in community practice: Insights from a quality improvement initiative

Jennifer Cultrera, MD

• Zanubrutinib is well tolerated and effective in acalabrutinib-intolerant patients with B-cell malignancies: A long-term follow-up

Uma Iyer, MD

• Evaluating the effect of morbid obesity on DVT in patients already on doac therapy: A retrospective analysis

Mahender Yellu, MD, MBBS, MHA

• Nationwide impact of CAR-T approval on acute lymphoblastic leukemia mortality in the United States, 1999-2023: Difference-in-differences and synthetic control analyses

Syed Zafar, MD:

• Deep responses and durable outcomes in patients treated with belantamab mafodotin plus pomalidomide and dexamethasone from long-term follow-up of the Phase 3 dreamm-8 study
• Functional high-risk relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) outcomes with belantamab mafodotin (belamaf): Dreamm-7 and dreamm-8 subgroup analysis

A comprehensive list of abstracts presented at the 2025 ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition can be found here: ASH Annual Meeting Abstracts.

Over 110 new early-phase and 40 late-phase studies are launched annually at FCS in partnership with Sarah Cannon Research Institute (SCRI), one of the world’s leading oncology research organizations conducting community-based clinical trials. Additionally, a partnership with Paradigm Health, Inc. aids in streamlining and accelerating patient matching to available clinical trials.

To learn more about clinical trials offered at FCS, visit: https://flcancer.com/participating-in-a-clinical-trial/