During 2017, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved three new AML drugs and brought back a fourth that had been withdrawn in 2010. Progress in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) also leaped forward during 2017, with FDA approval of tisagenlecleucel, the first-ever chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy for patients with relapsed or refractory disease. While a cure for all acute leukemias remains elusive, great progress is being made. Clinicians need to be aware that recommendations for initiating, combining, and sequencing treatments are rapidly changing, along with guidelines for avoiding or managing adverse effects. All members of the oncology care team, and their patients, need a deeper understanding of the efficacy, safety, and side effect profiles of these novel agents.

The goal of this activity is to ensure that members of the multidisciplinary oncology care team, including physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other relevant health care professionals, have the knowledge and skills necessary to apply the new standards of care for patients with an acute leukemia.