ATLANTA—Adding anti-BCL-2 therapy with the small-molecule drug venetoclax (VEN) to standard low-dose cytarabine (LDAC) chemotherapy tripled response rates over historical comparators and extended survival in older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who were ineligible for intensification of their chemotherapy in a phase 1/2 study reported at the 2017 American Society of Hematology annual meeting.
“With this new combination we seem to achieve very high complete response rates. We achieve response quickly—which means that patients have better quality of life, potentially, and less risk of fatal infections and also less need for blood transfusions and supportive care,” said lead study author Andrew Wei MBBS PhD FRACP FRCPA, a clinical hematologist and head of leukemia research at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia.
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