World Blood Cancer Day 2025, observed on May 28, brings attention to the urgent need for progress across leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and rare blood malignancies like myelodysplastic syndromes, myeloproliferative neoplasms, mantle cell lymphoma and hairy cell leukemia.
The day underscores the importance of early detection, novel therapies and equitable access to care — especially since blood cancers affect the entire circulatory and lymphatic systems, unlike localized solid tumors, requiring systemic solutions.
While there is no official theme this year, the expanded drug approval for Calquence (acalabrutinib) in mantle cell lymphoma, along with Phase III trial advances evaluating quizartinib in FLT3-ITD negative acute myeloid leukemia, reflect the continued momentum in blood cancer research and treatment.
Related: Blenrep Combination Extends Survival in Relapsed Multiple Myeloma
Blood Cancers By the Numbers
In the US, 187,740 people were expected to be diagnosed with leukemia, non-Hodgkin and Hodgkin lymphoma or myeloma in 2024, with 57,260 deaths projected from these diseases, according to the latest data (2023 to 2024) from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
The American Cancer Society projected 62,770 new cases of leukemia, 89,190 cases of lymphoma (including 80,620 non-Hodgkin and 8,570 Hodgkin lymphoma) and 35,780 cases of myeloma in 2024. Together, these three blood cancers were expected to account for 9.4% of all new cancer diagnoses in the US in 2024.
As of January 1, 2020, nearly 1.7 million people in the US were living with or in remission from a blood cancer. Mortality rates had steadily declined between 2000 and 2020, by 24.4% for leukemia, 40.6% for lymphoma and 22.2% for myeloma.
While leukemia remains the most common cancer in children under 15, non-Hispanic Black individuals are more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with myeloma compared to non-Hispanic white individuals.
Mantle cell lymphoma, an aggressive subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, accounts for approximately 5% of all non-Hodgkin lymphoma cases as of 2023 in the US. And hairy cell leukemia, which is a rare B-cell leukemia that represents less than 2% of all leukemias, amounts to roughly 1,000 new cases diagnosed in the US each year.
Globally, blood cancers were responsible for an estimated 699,461 deaths in 2022, with non-Hodgkin lymphoma coming in at rank 10 globally by incidence (553,010 cases) — according to GLOBOCAN estimates.
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Register for this free webinar to explore how tailored education and engagement strategies can strengthen the entire patient network, contributing to better trial performance across challenging therapeutic areas.
Spotlight on New Science Shaping Blood Cancer Care
As blood cancer incidence continues to rise, innovation is extending beyond treatment into prediction, prevention and next-generation cell engineering.
With AI-based tools aimed at guiding therapies — such as Biostate AI’s generative models trained on RNA sequencing data from leukemia patients — researchers are uncovering new entry points to tackle disease earlier and more precisely than ever before.
The Aging Gut’s Hidden Role in Leukemia
New research from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital reveals that a bacterial sugar called ADP-heptose, produced in the gut and leaked into circulation with age, may fuel the expansion of pre-leukemic cells.
The team developed a TIFAsome assay — a blood test designed to measure the activity of ADP-heptose — and used it to uncover this process, identifying molecular targets like ALPK1 and UBE2N that may one day halt the inflammatory cascade. These findings offer a new lens into how leukemia risk escalates with aging and microbiome disruption.
A New Targeted Therapy for Rare Leukemias
Solu Therapeutics, a US-based company, presented preclinical data on STX-0712, a first-in-class CCR2-targeting cytotoxic chimera (CyTAC) for chronic myelomonocytic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia.
In both patient samples and animal models, STX-0712 selectively depleted disease-driving CCR2-positive monocytes while sparing healthy cells. When used in combination with standard acute myeloid leukemia treatments, it improved efficacy in 60% of samples, marking a potential new option for two blood cancers with limited targeted therapies.
Hope After Relapse in Follicular Lymphoma
California-based PeproMene Bio shared early data from its Phase I trial of PMB-CT01, a BAFF-R-targeted CAR-T cell therapy for relapsed or refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. All seven participants — including a patient with follicular lymphoma who had failed seven prior lines of therapy — achieved complete remission.
With low toxicity and no cytokine release syndrome (CRS) or immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS) reported, this first-in-class therapy may offer a critical alternative for patients who relapse after CD19 CAR-T.
XTALKS WEBINAR: Oncology Clinical Development: Optimizing Value Through Implementation of a Patient-Centric, Holistic Endpoint Strategy
Live and On-Demand: Wednesday, June 25, 2025, at 11am EDT (4pm BST/UK)
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In the Pipeline for Tough-to-Treat Blood Cancers
While the above innovations target disease-driving cells or early-stage intervention, several more programs are surfacing across 2024 into 2025, tackling relapsed and treatment-resistant blood cancers with next-gen antibodies, engineered immune cells and kinase-selective agents.
For example, Swiss-based Ichnos Glenmark Innovation’s ISB 2001 — which received FDA Fast Track status — is an investigational trispecific antibody for relapsed multiple myeloma. Early-phase results show durable responses in heavily pretreated patients with limited treatment options.
Meanwhile, Senti Bio’s SENTI-202 is a next-gen CAR-NK therapy designed to kill leukemia cells while sparing healthy bone marrow. In Phase I testing, patients showed strong responses without serious side effects, suggesting it could potentially be a safer off-the-shelf cell therapy for acute myeloid leukemia.
And BeiGene’s Brukinsa (zanubrutinib), a targeted therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia and mantle cell lymphoma, continues to show promise. New trial and real-world data suggest it may work well even in hard-to-treat patients, offering a more tolerable option with long-term effectiveness.
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