The Swedish Institute (Swedish: Svenska institutet, SI) is a government agency in Sweden with the responsibility to spread information about Sweden outside the country. It exists to promote Swedish interests, and to organise exchanges with other countries in different areas of public life, in particular in the spheres of culture, education, and research.The main office of the Swedish Institute is in Gamla stan in central Stockholm. There is also a branch abroad; the Swedish Cultural Centre in Paris (French: Centre Culturel Suédois). The agency has approximately 90 members of staff and its board is appointed by the Government of Sweden.In early 2007 the Swedish Institute stated it was planning to set up an "embassy", the "House of Sweden", in Second Life, an Internet-based virtual world. This virtual office is not intended to provide passports or visas, but serve as a point of information about Sweden.Other Swedish embassies in foreign countries are under the direct authority and control of the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs..
OBJECTIVE:To describe the frequency of platelet count testing and decreased platelet counts (DPCs), time to onset and resolution of DPCs, and clinical management of DPCs among patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) who received first-line maintenance (1LM) niraparib monotherapy. METHODS:This retrospective US-based cohort study included adults with EOC who had a platelet count of ≥100,000/μL at 1LM niraparib monotherapy initiation (April 1, 2020-June 3, 2023). Platelet count testing patterns were described and patients grouped for any-grade DPC, grade ≥3 DPC, or no DPC. Timings of DPC onset and resolution were estimated and niraparib clinical management strategies (ie, dose modifications) and the frequency, timing of, and reasons for niraparib discontinuation were described. RESULTS:Among 543 eligible patients, most received frequent platelet count tests; for those who experienced DPCs (≈37% any-grade, ≈22% grade ≥3), onset was usually early (≤1 month after 1LM niraparib initiation), with ≥98.0% of cases resolving, with a median time to resolution of ≈2 weeks. Aligning with management guidelines, most patients received dose modifications during first DPC, and most continued treatment (≈84%). Most patients who discontinued treatment during first DPC did not receive dose modification prior to discontinuation. CONCLUSIONS:In this real-world setting of patients with EOC prescribed 1LM niraparib, DPCs usually occurred early, were quickly resolved for nearly all patients, and were generally managed with dose modifications, resulting in low discontinuation rates. However, dose modifications were absent in most patients who discontinued, highlighting an opportunity to improve clinical management strategies to support treatment continuation, thereby potentially optimizing patient benefit.
Background FT596 is an induced pluripotent stem-cell (iPSC)-derived chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) natural killer (NK) cell therapy with three antitumour modalities: a CD19 CAR; a high-affinity, non-cleavable CD16 Fc receptor; and interleukin-15-interleukin-15 receptor fusion. In this study, we aimed to determine the recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D) and evaluate the safety and tolerability of FT596 as monotherapy and in combination with rituximab. We also aimed to evaluate the antitumour activity and characterise the pharmacokinetics of FT596 as monotherapy and in combination with rituximab. Methods In this phase 1, first-in-human trial, we evaluated FT596 in patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell lymphoma at nine sites in the USA. Patients who had received at least one previous systemic therapy and had no curative treatment options were eligible for inclusion. FT596 was administered after conditioning chemotherapy without rituximab (regimen A) or combined with rituximab (regimen B). The study consisted of a dose-escalation phase using a 3 + 3 design, with dose escalation commencing at 3 x 107 viable cells as a single dose on day 1 and done independently for individual regimens. A treatment cycle consisted of conditioning chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide (500 mg/m(2)) and fludarabine (30 mg/m(2)) intravenously on days -5 to -3, followed by FT596 administered at various doses and schedules, without (regimen A) or with (regimen B) a single dose of rituximab (375 mg/m(2)) intravenously on day -4. Supportive care was determined by the treating investigator. Patients were observed for dose-limiting adverse events for 28 days. Patients who tolerated therapy and derived clinical benefit could receive subsequent cycles of study treatment, with modification of conditioning chemotherapy dose if clinically indicated. The dose-expansion phase evaluated additional patients at selected doses and dosing schedules that had been found to be tolerable. The primary endpoints of the study were the incidence and nature of dose-limiting toxicities within each dose-escalation cohort to determine the maximum tolerated dose or maximum assessed dose to establish the RP2D and the incidence, nature, and severity of adverse events, with severity determined according to National Cancer Institute Common Toxicity Criteria and Adverse Events version 50. The trial was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04245722. Findings Between March 19, 2020, and Jan 12, 2023, 86 patients with B-cell lymphoma received FT596 on regimen A (n=18) or regimen B (n=68). 22 (26%) of 86 patients were female and 72 (84%) of 86 patients were White. Patients had received a median of four previous lines of therapy (range 1-11) and 33 (38%) of 86 patients had received previous CAR T-cell therapy. The maximum tolerated dose was not reached. Cytokine release syndrome was reported in one (6%) of 18 patients (maximum grade 1) on regimen A and nine (13%) of 68 patients on regimen B (six with maximum grade 1 and three with grade 2). Neurotoxicity was not observed. Interpretation FT596 was well tolerated as monotherapy or with rituximab and induced deep and durable responses in patients with indolent and aggressive lymphomas and the RP2D was preliminarily identified to be 18 x 109 cells for three doses per cycle. This study supports that cell therapy using iPSC-derived, gene-modified NK cells is a potent platform for cancer treatment and suggests that such a platform might address limitations of currently available immune cell therapies, including manufacturing time, heterogeneity, access, and cost. Funding Fate Therapeutics. Copyright (c) 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Over the past decade, treatment recommendations for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) have shifted from traditional chemoimmunotherapy to targeted therapies. Multiple new therapies are commercially available, and in many cases a lack of randomized clinical trial data makes selection of the optimal treatment for each patient challenging. Additionally, many patients continue to receive chemoimmunotherapy in the US, suggesting a gap between guidelines and real-world practice. The Lymphoma Research Foundation convened a workshop comprised of a panel of CLL/SLL experts in the US to develop consensus recommendations for selection and sequencing of therapies for patients with CLL/SLL in the US. Herein, the recommendations are compiled for use as a practical clinical guide for treating providers caring for patients with CLL/SLL, which complement existing guidelines by providing a nuanced discussion relating how our panel of CLL/SLL experts in the US care for patients in a real-world environment.
PURPOSE ERBB2 overexpression/amplification in RAS/BRAF wild-type (WT) metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC; human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 [HER2]-positive mCRC) appears to be associated with limited benefit from anti-EGFR antibodies and promising responses to dual-HER2 inhibition; however, comparative efficacy has not been investigated. We conducted a randomized phase II trial to evaluate efficacy and safety of dual-HER2 inhibition against standard-of-care anti-EGFR antibody–based therapy as second/third-line treatment in HER2-positive mCRC. METHODS Patients with RAS/BRAF -WT mCRC after central confirmation of HER2 positivity (immunohistochemistry 3+ or 2+ and in situ hybridization amplified [HER2/CEP17 ratio >2.0]) were assigned (1:1) to either trastuzumab plus pertuzumab (TP; trastuzumab 6 mg/kg and pertuzumab 420 mg once every 3 weeks) or cetuximab plus irinotecan (CETIRI; cetuximab 500 mg/m 2 and irinotecan 180 mg/m 2 once every 2 weeks) until progression or unacceptable toxicity. Crossover to TP was allowed after progression on CETIRI. The primary end point was progression-free survival (PFS). Secondary end points included objective response rate (ORR), overall survival, safety, and HER2 gene copy number (GCN ≥20/<20) as a predictive factor. RESULTS Between October 2017 and March 2022, 54 participants were assigned to TP (n = 26) and CETIRI (n = 28). Median PFS did not vary significantly by treatment: 4.7 (95% CI, 1.9 to 7.6) and 3.7 (95% CI, 1.6 to 6.7) months in the TP and CETIRI groups, respectively. Efficacy of TP versus CETIRI differed significantly by HER2 GCN (median PFS, GCN ≥20 [9.9 v 2.9 months] and GCN <20 [3.0 v 4.2 months], respectively; P interaction = .003). On TP, ORR was 34.6% (57.1% with GCN ≥20 v 9.1% with GCN <20) with median GCN of 29.7 versus 13.2 for responders and nonresponders, respectively ( P = .004). Grade ≥3 adverse events occurred in 23.1% and 46.1% of participants with TP and CETIRI, respectively. CONCLUSION TP appears to be a safe and effective cytotoxic chemotherapy-free option for patients with RAS/BRAF -WT, HER2-positive mCRC. Higher levels of HER2 amplification were associated with greater degree of clinical benefit from TP vis-à-vis CETIRI.
