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Despite the development of synergistic multidrug regimens, 30–40% of patients with newly diagnosed (ND) acute myeloid leukemia (AML) ultimately relapse. Furthermore, few patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) AML experience long-term remission despite salvage therapy. The multiagent induction regimen of fludarabine, cytarabine, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, and idarubicin (FLAG-IDA) is an effective frontline treatment in patients with AML, with favorable survival rates compared with alternate induction chemotherapy, and can also be used as salvage therapy in R/R AML.
The B-cell lymphoma-2 inhibitor venetoclax (VEN), combined with azacitidine, decitabine, or low-dose cytarabine, is approved for the treatment of AML in older unfit patients. A synergistic effect of VEN with standard chemotherapeutic agents has also been shown preclinically, suggesting further potential in AML treatment.
Here we summarize results from a phase Ib/II study, published by DiNardo, et al. in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, investigating the safety and efficacy of combining VEN with FLAG-IDA as frontline or salvage therapy in younger patients with ND AML or R/R AML (NCT03214562).1 The AML Hub has previously reported interim results from this study.
Eligible adult patients had:
Treatment regimen consisted of:
Primary objectives were the safety and tolerability of combined FLAG-IDA and VEN, and overall activity (overall response rate [ORR]). Secondary objectives included:
To date, 68 patients have enrolled, with a median age of 46 years (range, 20–73 years). Of these, 16 were included in phase Ib, the dose escalation cohort, and a further 52 in phase II, the dose-expansion cohort. Patient characteristics for each cohort are summarized in Table 1.
Table 1. Characteristics of patients in each cohort*
AML, acute myeloid leukemia; CR, complete response; ELN, European LeukemiaNet; HSCT, hematopoietic stem cell transplant; ND, newly diagnosed; R/R, relapsed or refractory; sAML, secondary AML; t-AML, treatment related AML; ts-AML, treated secondary AML; VEN, venetoclax. |
|||
Characteristic, n (unless otherwise stated) |
Phase IIa |
Phase Ib |
Phase IIb |
---|---|---|---|
Median age (range), years |
45 (20–65) |
51 (20–73) |
47 (22–66) |
Male, n |
13 |
10 |
14 |
Median number of prior therapies (range) |
— |
2 (1–6) |
1 (1–3) |
Prior HSCT |
— |
7 |
7 |
Median duration of prior CR (range), months |
— |
15.1 (2.3–44) |
12.6 (2.7–70) |
Salvage 1 |
— |
8 |
19 |
Salvage 2 |
— |
3 |
3 |
Salvage 3 or greater |
— |
5 |
1 |
Median blast at enrolment (range), %† |
41 (4–85) |
63 (6–94) |
46 (1–89) |
AML type |
|
|
|
de novo AML |
17 |
— |
— |
sAML |
5 |
— |
— |
ts-AML |
2 |
— |
— |
t-AML |
5 |
— |
— |
R/R AML |
— |
16 |
23 |
ELN risk group |
|
|
|
Favorable |
5 |
6 |
6 |
Intermediate |
13 |
2 |
3 |
Adverse |
11 |
8 |
14 |
Cytogenetic group |
|
|
|
Favorable |
— |
4 |
2 |
Diploid |
13 |
2 |
8 |
Other intermediate |
8 |
2 |
3 |
Adverse-risk or complex |
4 |
4 |
9 |
Insufficient mitoses |
1 |
1 |
— |
KMT2A-rearranged |
3 |
3 |
1 |
Molecular mutations |
|
|
|
NPM1 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
IDH1 |
3 |
1 |
|
IDH2 |
7 |
1 |
1 |
RUNX1 |
5 |
— |
5 |
ASXL1 |
2 |
— |
3 |
TP53 |
3 |
2 |
5 |
Active signaling‡ |
11 |
6 |
9 |
Tumor suppressor§ |
5 |
5 |
8 |
As summarized in Table 2, the most frequent Grade 3 and 4 adverse events across all cohorts were febrile neutropenia (50%), bacteremia (35%), and pneumonia (28%). Febrile neutropenia and pneumonia occurred at similar rates in patients with R/R AML (54%) and ND AML (48%), whereas bacteremia was more common in those with R/R AML than ND AML (46% vs 21%; p = 0.04).
Table 2. Most common Grade 3 and 4 adverse events across patient cohorts*
AE, adverse event; AML, acute myeloid leukemia; GI, gastrointestinal; ND, newly diagnosed; R/R, relapsed or refractory. |
||||
AE, n |
All patients |
Phase IIa |
Phase Ib |
Phase IIb |
---|---|---|---|---|
Febrile neutropenia |
34 |
14 |
8 |
12 |
Bacteremia |
24 |
6 |
8 |
10 |
Pneumonia |
19 |
8 |
4 |
7 |
Sepsis |
8 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
Abdominal pain |
5 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
Skin and soft tissue |
4 |
3 |
— |
1 |
Colitis or typhlitis |
3 |
1 |
2 |
— |
GI disorders |
2 |
— |
— |
2 |
GI hemorrhage |
2 |
2 |
— |
— |
Hyperglycemia |
2 |
1 |
1 |
— |
Hypotension |
2 |
— |
1 |
1 |
Intracranial |
2 |
— |
— |
2 |
Urinary tract infection |
2 |
1 |
— |
1 |
Across all groups, 30-day mortality rate was 0% and 60-day mortality was 4.4%. Six patients with R/R AML died during the study. Causes of death for patients in which the treatment did not yield a response were sepsis (n = 2), pneumonia (n = 1), and pulmonary hemorrhage (n = 1). Sepsis and hemophagocytic syndrome occurred in two patients.
Treatment responses across different cohorts are shown in Table 3.
Table 3. FLAG-IDA and VEN treatment outcomes among patient groups*
AML, acute myeloid leukemia; CI, confidence interval; CR, complete response; CRc, composite CR (CR + CRi + CRh); CRh, CR with partial hematologic recovery; CRi, CR with incomplete hematologic recovery; EFS, event-free survival; MLFS, morphologic leukemia-free state; MRD, measurable residual disease; ND, newly diagnosed; NE, not estimated; NR, not recorded; ORR, overall response rate; OS, overall survival; R/R, relapsed or refractory. |
|||
Outcome |
Phase IIa ND AML |
Phase Ib R/R AML |
Phase IIb R/R AML |
---|---|---|---|
ORR (95% CI), % |
97 (85–99) † |
75 (48–93) |
70 (47–83) † |
CRc (95% CI), % |
90 (73–98) |
75 (48–93) |
61 (39–80) |
CR, % |
69 |
38 |
48 |
CRh, % |
17 |
13 |
13 |
CRi, % |
3 |
25 |
— |
MRD negative CR (95% CI) ‡, % |
96 (80–99) |
58 (28–85) |
79 (49–95) |
MLFS |
2 |
— |
2 |
No response |
1 |
4 |
7 |
Median DOR (95% CI), months |
NR |
6 (3–NE) |
NR |
EFS (95% CI), % |
|
|
|
6-month |
89 (78–100) |
50 (31–82) |
59 (41–84) |
12-month |
85 (72–100) |
31 (15–65) |
41 (21–77) |
OS (95% CI), % |
|
|
|
6-month |
100 |
63 (43–91) |
68 (49–94) |
12-month |
94 (84–100) |
38 (20–71) |
68 (49–94) |
The combination of venetoclax with FLAG-IDA induction and consolidation therapy was found to be tolerable in this younger group of patients with ND AML and R/R AML, with no early mortality. Adverse events were mostly infectious in nature and similar across AML types. High rates of MRD negative composite CR rates were noted, in both ND AML and R/R AML cohorts, suggesting deep remissions. Furthermore, the majority of patients were able to transition to allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
The dose-expansion part of this study is ongoing, and the authors noted that randomized comparison with standard-of-care induction regimens would be helpful in establishing whether FLAG-IDA with VEN is an effective frontline therapy in ND AML and an optimal salvage treatment in fit patients with R/R AML.
References
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