SAN DIEGO – After more than four decades of near stagnation in the treatment of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), investigators are beginning to identify drugs that can produce rapid and deep complete remissions, which recent evidence suggests are associated with prolonged survival.
In this video interview at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology, Harry P. Erba, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, University of Alabama, Birmingham, describes the early results of one such agent, a novel antibody drug conjugate called vadastuximab talirine, or 33A for short. In the phase Ib clinical trial of induction therapy for newly diagnosed AML, a combination of standard 7+3 induction chemotherapy with cytarabine and daunorubicin plus 33A was associated with a 76% composite rate of complete remissions or complete remissions with incomplete recovery of platelets.