MPN Workshop of the Carolinas 2025 | The value and interactive format of the MPN Workshop of the Carolinas

Ruben Mesa:

Well, we’re so excited this year for the MPN Workshop of the Carolinas. This year in its second year here in the Carolinas, I think the fourth or fifth iteration of our shared meeting overall that started in Texas. We’re here in the beautiful, the Queen City of Charlotte, North Carolina. Now remind folks, Naveen, as we brought this meeting together, we had a vision of a meeting that would be interactive, be a workshop. Tell folks a little bit about that. 

Naveen Pemmaraju:

That’s right, Ruben. What you and I had come up with so many years ago, first when we were in Texas together, now with you here in the Carolinas, is a meeting for investigators by investigators. What we mean by that is more of a workshop feel, so folks should not feel shy to come up to the microphone, ask questions, be interactive. We wanted to have a mix of scientists and clinicians all in the same room talking to each other and then welcoming all the other stakeholders. So our colleagues in pharma, patients, patient advocates, local physicians and providers. So basically a mix of folks to think about the current and the future directions for our myeloproliferative neoplasm field. 

Ruben:

And I think where meetings like this, that are a deeper dive into an area like MPNs, they play a really important role. As I think of things, we have meetings that are pure education. CME, here’s where we’re at, here’s the NCCN guidelines, you apply them. And you certainly will hear that sort of thing, but really through the lens of kind of where we’re going. You know, we have wonderful meetings like ASH or EHA. These are wonderful meetings, but they tend to be highly subspecialized, you know, that take a very deep dive into a whole variety of things kind of in parallel. So meetings like this are, again, are that piece. Where are we now? You know, deeper discussions. We had a wonderful discussion really on what to expect with therapies with MPNs. what are the endpoints that we have now? Where would we like to see our therapies evolve to in terms of efficacy? And then what sort of endpoints really are able to then measure that efficacy in a way that we can say, boy, this is a therapy that is worthwhile treating patients? 

Naveen:

Well, that just re-inspired me. And I think another thing that you and I are seeing from when we designed the agenda is the progression matches the progression of the disease possibly in the clinic. So we started out with talks at the laboratory level when the MPN possibly is a single cell. Then we talked about CHIP and CCUS, precursor states before you get to the MPN. Then we talked about the MPNs itself. And then, as you said, we filled in with the symptom burden, which you and your team pioneered. And then now we move into the therapy. So we’ve given folks a half a day to a day of biological background, because as you yourself said in your opening keynote address, once we understand the biology, then we can understand the therapies. I think that’s great that that’s how it’s unfolding for the audience, Ruben. 

Ruben:

You know, and I think having both the discovery science and the clinical science in the same room is so key. 

Naveen:

Right. 

Ruben:

Because if either of those are just in isolation, you know, the biology, if you’re only discussing that, but without really the lens on translation, it can really lose its focus, as well as, again, like anything in biology, some of those will be applicable and some perhaps not. What is a driving biological influence and what is something that is kind of peripheral is its own challenging part. But two, then, how does that really tie to the clinic? What is our current state? What really are the unmet gaps? What would a new therapy… what would we like to see be able to achieve for our patients? How do we know that’s working? How long does it take for us to see that? You know the whole investigative process. Do we have the right target? Are we using the right dose? Is this the right therapy for that target – what is its effectiveness? How do we judge it? What is the downside both in terms of physical toxicity and something I think much more on our radar that we discussed at the meeting, financial toxicity? Again, all a factor. As the MPNs truly run this spectrum from chronic illness, lifelong illness. Again, you’re managing your diabetes, your hypertension, your hypercholesterolemia, but you have a essential thrombocytopenia. What does that arc look like? Or what really behaves much more like the acute cancer end of the spectrum. Advanced myelofibrosis, MPN blast phase. These are as malignant as any solid tumor malignancy. So the issues are different. The acuity is different, you know, as well as sometimes the intensity of our investigations are different. 

Naveen:

I love what you said. And building on those themes, what we’ve opened the door now is to, I’m really proud that you and I are doing this. We have a host of investigators here from junior or just starting out to mid-senior and senior. And for example, AI or artificial intelligence has already entered the chat here in our meeting. We featured a young investigator in our abstract session. We’ll have a junior faculty member later in the meeting going over artificial intelligence at the level of science, so data collection, data analysis, helping physicians make decisions possibly one day in the clinic and making new discoveries that possibly, Ruben, may not have existed to us before. So this is an exciting part of our meeting, new topics that have never been discussed before. 

Ruben:

Wonderful. Well, we hope that you’re able to enjoy aspects of this as you’re able to learn about it online, as well as considering joining us next year as we gather again in August of 2026.

This transcript is AI-generated. While we strive for accuracy, please verify this copy with the video.