Prolong remission
A new drug significantly prolongs the life of patients with leukemia
Svetlana Maslova, Hi-tech+
The third phase of clinical trials showed that taking a new drug after recovery from acute myeloid leukemia significantly prolonged the life of patients in remission. Scientists are seeing such a result for the first time and are already using a new treatment regimen in medical practice.
A new drug called azacitidine was prescribed to patients in remission. In patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), relapses occur quite often, so scientists sought to find a treatment regimen that would maximize the cancer-free period. Currently, the five–year survival rate is only 30%, and for the elderly - only about 10%.
The third phase of clinical trials involved 472 patients from different countries who were given azacitidine orally at a dosage of 300 mg for two weeks each month as maintenance therapy. The findings of the work are published on the website of White Cornell College.
Article by Wei et al. Oral Azacitidine Maintenance Therapy for Acute Myeloid Leukemia in First Remission is published in the New England Journal of Medicine – VM.
On the background of azacitidine, the relapse-free and overall survival were 10.2 and 24.7 months, while in the placebo group only 4.8 and 14.8 months, respectively. Two years after the start of the maintenance therapy course, 50.6% of the azacitidine group survived. In the control group, the survival rate was 37.1%.
This is the first time that supportive therapy has such a significant benefit, according to the findings of the work.
The side effects of azacitidine were moderate and well controlled, the scientists said. Vomiting, decreased white blood cell count and infection were most often observed. "We are especially glad that the drug is well tolerated and does not reduce the quality of life," they stressed.
In September 2020, azacitidine was already approved for clinical use in the United States as an adjunct for AML. Currently, it is already used in standard medical practice.
The authors of the study note that some patients who took azacitidine survived for many years.
"For example, one of the patients in 2013 was informed of a worse prognosis in the near future, but from that moment she became a participant in a clinical trial (and took the drug) and is still alive," concluded study author Gail Roboz.
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