Future Directions for Elderly Patients With Relapsed/Refractory AML

Rajneesh Nath, MD, the section chief of Cellular Therapy/Stem Cell Transplant and Leukemia at Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses what is in store regarding treatment for elderly patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

The SIERRA trial (NCT02665065) trial enrolled and evaluated 133 patients over the age of 55 with relapsed/refractory AML who had a fully matched donor. According to Nath, participants were randomized into either the experimental arm where they were given lomab-B after transplant, or the standard of care arm.

Additionally, Nath emphasizes the positive advancements and new treatments within the AML field, including use of the combination of hypomethylating agents and venetoclax (Venclexta). This combination has been seen to help elderly patients by giving them a pathway to stem cell transplantation and to remission.

Transcription:

0:08 | It's an exciting time to be treating elderly patients with acute myeloid leukemia. Until a couple of years ago, we didn't have anything for them, we would just see which patients would be eligible for induction which many of these patients were not. We recently had several new approvals for this disease.

0:32 | One of the particular areas that I'm excited about is the use of a combination of hypomethylating agents with venetoclax. This combination is able to free a lot of elderly patients and put them into remission. It serves as a pathway to take them to stem cell transplant because the outcomes of stem cell transplant are better if they are done in remission. On one hand, we are able to put an increasing number of patients into remission and provide them a pathway for stem cell transplant. On the other hand, if this study works out, we will be having a pathway for patients who do not go into remission, also to proceed with an allergenic stem cell transplant.