With nearly 5,000 abstracts on tap for this December's American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting in Orlando, Fla., organizers of the annual conference have highlighted a multitude of new advances in the event's programming.

Less than two weeks after giving the go-ahead to Novartis AG for Adakveo (crizanlizumab) to reduce the frequency of vaso-occlusive crises (VOCs) in adult and pediatric patients ages 16 and older with sickle cell disease (SCD), the FDA cleared – well ahead of its Feb. 26, 2020, PDUFA date – Oxbryta (voxelotor), from Global Blood Therapeutics Inc. (GBT), for SCD in adults and pediatric patients ages 12 and up. 

La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co. discontinued its study LJ401-BT01 due to lack of efficacy and will reassess further development of LJPC-401 (synthetic human hepcidin) based on recent mixed clinical results.

Emerging from the tsunami of abstracts from the nearly here American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., were data that sent some stocks upward on Wednesday. Most notably, Constellation Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:CNST) was a huge winner as its shares nearly doubled in value as they closed at $28,10, up $13.33, for a gain of 90.25%.