Dr. Steven Pavletic
Steven Z. Pavletic, M.D., M.S., Senior Clinician in the Immune Deficiency Cellular Therapy Program, has been named a Top Ten Clinical Research Achievement awardee by the Clinical Research Forum for his study “A randomized phase II trial of pomalidomide in subjects failing prior therapy for chronic graft-versus-host disease.” The award celebrates major clinical research accomplishments in the United States that involve both cutting-edge innovation and significant impact on human disease.
Chronic graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD) is a condition that can occur after a stem cell transplant in which donated bone marrow or stem cells view the recipient’s body as foreign and attack. Patients with chronic GVHD who do not respond to corticosteroids, particularly those who develop sclerotic (hardened) skin manifestations, present a therapeutic challenge for physicians. Pavletic and his team conducted a phase II clinical trial to determine the safety, efficacy and preferred dose of pomalidomide, a drug used to treat AIDS-related Kaposi sarcoma, in such patients. Their results indicated that the drug is a safe and effective therapy for severe chronic GVHD, including sclerotic skin manifestations.
The Top Ten Clinical Research Achievement Awards seek to identify major advances and groundbreaking achievements in the biomedical field resulting from the nation’s investment in health and welfare. The award-winning studies are selected based on the degree of innovation and novelty involved in the advancement of science, contribution to the understanding of human disease and/or physiology and potential impact upon the diagnosis, prevention and/or treatment of disease.
The awardees will be recognized on April 19, 2022, in Chicago, Illinois. In addition to this clinical achievement, Dr. Pavletic has several other ongoing clinical trials studying patients with chronic GVHD and patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.