Advances in AML Research | Where Do Clinical Trials Fit In?
Advances in AML Research | Where Do Clinical Trials Fit In? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.
How do clinical trials advance acute myeloid leukemia (AML) research? Dr. Farhad Ravandi-Kashani discusses newer AML treatments that have changed the landscape of care and how patient trial participation moves research forward.
Dr. Farhad Ravandi-Kashani is professor of medicine and Chief of the Section of Developmental Therapeutics in the Department of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. Learn more about Dr. Ravandi-Kashani.
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Transcript:
Laura Beth:
When it comes to AML research and emerging treatment options, what are you excited about right now?
Dr. Ravandi:
Well, I think one of the biggest, I would call, revolutionary changes in AML was the introduction of venetoclax (Venclexta), because AML is a disease of the older population.
The median age is about 68, which means half of the patients are older than 68, and among the other half, majority are older than 55. And when you go beyond 60, 65, traditional chemotherapy is not well-tolerated. But the introduction of venetoclax plus azacitidine (Onureg) or decitabine (Dacogen), depending on the center, has really completely changed the management of older AML patients from a situation that it was dismal treatment to a situation that’s still not great, but it’s a lot better, as in we don’t cure the majority, but many people have a tolerable therapy and live with their disease for several months if not several years.
And personally, I have treated a 97-year-old patient, and she did well for three years, so. Because of this drug, age is no longer as frightening as it used to be for advanced age.
Laura Beth:
So, where do clinical trials fit in when it comes to choosing treatment?
Dr. Ravandi:
So, the best drugs that we have available now, the venetoclax that I mentioned and all the other drugs that I mentioned, targeted drugs, came from clinical trials.
If we don’t do clinical trials, we would be still doing the same treatments that we were doing in the 1970s and ‘80s.
In fact, up until about seven or eight years ago, many places were still doing the same treatments that was developed in 1970s, which in the era of computers, and Apple, and everything else, it’s mindboggling that we should be doing something that we were doing in the ‘70s. So, clinical trials are important to move the field forward. They are at major academic centers, all the clinical trials are extremely well-vetted and scientifically vetted, as well as with institutional review boards, ethically vetted. So, patients can be sure that they’re not going to get anything less and potentially more than what they would normally get.
