DFDA Approval of New Targeted Therapy for Acute Myeloid Leukemia is a Significant
Advance for Deadly Blood Cancer
Last week marked another significant advance in the offensive against acute
myeloid leukemia (AML), one of the most deadly blood cancers that takes
more than 10,000 lives in the U.S. each year. The Leukemia & Lymphoma
Society (LLS) applauds The U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s
approval yesterday of a new targeted therapy for patients with relapsed
AML, who have a specific genetic mutation.
There have been few new therapies approved for AML in the past 40 years.
The prognosis for AML patients is very poor, especially for patients older
than 60, with less than 20 percent of these patients surviving five years
after diagnosis. But after four decades of little progress in AML, the
FDA has approved two new therapies over the past three months, and more
are under review.
“AML patients desperately need new and better options for treatment.”
said Louis J. DeGennaro, LLS President and CEO. “These new approvals
are further proof that we are headed in the right direction by taking
a more personalized approach to treatment.”
Last year, LLS launched its own groundbreaking precision medicine study,
the Beat AML Master Trial, a significant collaboration in which multiple
targeted treatments for newly diagnosed AML patients are being tested
simultaneously at multiple cancer centers around the country. The drug
approved yesterday is among the investigational drugs being tested in
the Beat AML trial, as a first-line therapy for newly diagnosed AML patients
with the mutation.
“The Beat AML Master Trial is designed to deliver the right drug
to the right patient at the right time,” said DeGennaro.
“LLS invests in research areas in which we know we can make a significant
impact,” explains DeGennaro. “We recognized early on the urgency
in finding new and better treatments for AML. After four decades and millions
of dollars invested, we are finally seeing results for AML patients that
give us real reason for optimism.”
Louis J. DeGennaro, Ph.D.
President and CEO