The introduction of a European Hematology Association-Theme of the Year in June 2012, focusing on Quality of Life (QoL) in Hematology, was successful in stimulating awareness, conference sessions, publications, and reports.

The conclusion, in June 2013, of this year’s theme includes two editorials in Haematologica entitled “Patients’ needs in hematology: whose perspectives?” and “Age and Aging in blood disorders: EHA Theme of the Year 2013-2014’’. The Scientific Working Group Quality of Life and Symptoms will organize a SWG Session “Implementation of treatment related patient-reported outcomes in routine clinical practice in hematological malignancies”. Although each theme of the year is introduced to highlight a certain topic in hematology, the themes will remain active. Therefore, Quality of Life will stay on the agenda.

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) regenerate blood cells throughout the lifespan of an individual.  The HSC pool has to accommodate to the cellular stresses associated with its life-long activity. HSCs are protected in specific bone marrow areas called “niches”. New technologies allow the analysis of different bone marrow compartments and the functional implications on HSCs.  HSCs persist for a lifetime; there is a balance between their proliferation and their quiescent (sleeping) state. Therefore, the HSCs cell cycle is controlled by factors within and outside the cell.

The word ‘leukemia’ fills people with awe and foreboding. Things have changed, however, for the better. In children who have Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) the cure rate is about 90%. In adults the story is not so good. The predominant type of leukemia in adults is Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and most patients are over 60 years of age. Although age was felt to be an important factor in the poor responses seen in adults, it is now clear that Acute Leukemia in older patients is a different disease which is intrinsically resistant to traditional chemotherapy.

To date, up to 80% of patients with the most common subtype of malignant lymphoma (diffuse large B-cell lymphoma), are cured of this aggressive disease by chemotherapy, in combination with the anti-lymphoma antibody Rituximab. Unfortunately, young patients with high risk disease and elderly patients fare much worse and there is an urgent need to improve their outcome. However, the past year has seen a significant increase in our knowledge of the biology of disease. Using gene expression profiling and other new molecular techniques, we are beginning to recognize/identify the disease driver pathways which make lymphoma cells continue to proliferate. These major advances will be extensively reported at the meeting.  The first results of clinical studies with new "smart molecules", such as lenalidomide, enzastaurin, bortezomib and ibrutinib, to mention a few, that specifically kill the cancer cells with only minimal damage to normal tissues/organs will be presented. So far, this modern "personalized medicine" approach appears to be promising, in particular for patients who only respond poorly to conventional treatment.

At the 54^th Annual Meeting of ASH, Dr Francesco Lo Coco, lead author and Chairman of the APL subcommittee of the Italian GIMEMA group and Professor of Hematology at University Tor Vergata in Rome, Italy, presented the outcome of new research that demonstrates the efficacy of the first curative treatment for acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) that does not include chemotherapy, marking an important step toward front-line use of targeted therapies for acute leukemia.

Brussels, 20 Nov: Economic growth and lower healthcare costs are both possible if Europe exploits the opportunities of personalised healthcare, according to a report prepared under the aegis of the Cyprus Presidency of the EU.

We welcome the proposal for a Clinical Trials Regulation released by the European Commission. The Regulation appears to improve the legislation associated with running clinical trials. This will give clinicians and researchers a better framework for developing and testing treatments, to benefit patients across Europe, while maintaining the high standards of patient safety that currently exist in European clinical research. The harmonisation of clinical trials legislation and the streamlining of the application process for starting trials should particularly benefit the set up and running of multi-national trials in Europe.

  http://www. no-cuts-on-research. eu EHA supports European Nobel and Fields Medal prizewinners to prevent the EU research funding for 2014-2020 from being subject to budget cuts.

THE HAGUE – July 18, 2012 – Replacing the current Clinical Trials Directive, the European Commission (EC) adopted a proposal yesterday to regulate medical research in Europe.
It appears that the Commission has taken to heart many of the criticisms voiced by EHA and other stakeholders and is now proposing to reduce red tape through the introduction of a regulation, rather than a directive. This should simplify the application for market authorization of medicines and ensure procedural coherence of the assessment.

AMSTERDAM – June 16, 2012 –The European Hematology Association (EHA), the American Society of Hematology (ASH), and the European Cancer Patient Coalition (ECPC) joined today in issuing a common call to action in an effort to mitigate shortages of hematologic drugs in Europe, the United States and around the world. The collective made the announcement today following the EHA-ASH Joint Symposium at the 17th EHA Congress in Amsterdam which was dedicated to the drug shortage crisis.

Laurent Degos will be the fifth recipient of the Jean Bernard Lifetime Achievement Award which was presented for the first time at the 13th Congress in Copenhagen. This award was established to honor outstanding physicians and scientists for their lifetime contribution to the advancement of hematology.

The EHA Board has selected Professor Jesús San Miguel for the José Carreras Lecture at the 17th Congress in Amsterdam. Jesús San Miguel is Professor of Medicine (Haematology), Head of the Hematology Department at the University Hospital of Salamanca, and Director of the Biomedical Research Institute of Salamanca, Spain. He is an internationally recognized leader in the field of hematology, and specifically in the area of multiple myeloma.

Amsterdam, June 15, 2012. “There is a large potential opportunity for saving lives by early identification of cardiac iron loading in Thalassemia patients”, declares Professor John-Paul Carpenter of the Royal Brompton CMR Unit in London at the 17th Congress of the European Hematology Association in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam, June 15, 2012. At the 17th Congress of the European Hematology Association in Amsterdam Professor Max Topp of the University of Wuerzberg in Germany presents the impressive results with a bispecific antibody for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia patients.

Amsterdam, June 15, 2012. Dr Micheal Hedenus of the Haematology Unit of the Sundsval Hospital in Sweden will present promising results on a study on a single iron dose for fatigue treatment in iron deficient women at the 17th Congress of the European Hematology Association in Amsterdam.