Tag Archive for: AML Clinical Trials

AML Clinical Trial Participation Disparities | Impact on Access, Outcomes, and Inclusion Strategies

AML Clinical Trial Participation Disparities | Impact on Access, Outcomes, and Inclusion Strategies from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What are AML clinical trial disparities, outcomes, and solutions for inclusion? Expert Dr. Sara Taveras Alam from UTHealth Houston discusses patient factors that impact access, underrepresented patient groups, and patient advice for improving clinical trial access. 

[ACT]IVATION Tip

“…inquire if there are clinical trials available at the institution where you’re being cared for, not all institutions do have clinical trials available, and that is okay, but you should be informed and given the opportunity to look into other facilities if clinical trials are available and have the ability to do so.”

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Advancements in AML Treatment | Tailoring Therapies to Individual Patients

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AML Diagnosis | Exploring Bone Marrow Biopsy and Alternatives

AML Diagnosis | Exploring Bone Marrow Biopsy and Alternatives

How Is AML Care Impacted by Bone Marrow Biopsy Results?

Transcript: 

Lisa Hatfield:

Dr. Taveras, so this is kind of a three-part question regarding disparities in acute myeloid leukemia. So what are the disparities in clinical trial participation among AML patients, and how do these disparities affect access to innovative treatments and outcomes, and then kind of a third part to this question, how can efforts be made to increase diversity and inclusion and clinical trials for AML? 

Dr. Sara Taveras Alam:

Thank you. This is a very important question. Unfortunately, disparities exist in the outcome of AML patients based on different factors, social-economic factors, racial factors, ethnicity, and unfortunately, it has been proven that in clinical trials, the non-Hispanic white population is the predominant population study, so unfortunately, our African Americans or Black patients and our Hispanic patients are underrepresented, and this may impact whether or not the treatments that are getting put, being studied and being utilized in AML patients are appropriate for these patients who were not included on the clinical trials.

I do see that there is an intentional effort to recruit patients from minority groups in institutions where trials are available; however, one caveat is that unfortunately, some of those underrepresented populations don’t necessarily have access to the institutions that are leading the clinical trials. I’m in Houston, and we actually have a county system here in Houston, where leukemia trials are available, and that is really a blessing, because it’s not something that is very common. So throughout my training, when I did go to a county hospital, I was able to see Hispanic patients and African American patients being given the opportunity to participate in clinical trials that may impact the long-term treatment of other patients and those treatments being studied in the population that was using them.

My activation tip for this question is to inquire if there are clinical trials available at the institution where you’re being cared for, not all institutions do have clinical trials available, and that is okay, but you should be informed and given the opportunity to look into other facilities if clinical trials are available and have the ability to do so.

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A Look at Ongoing Acute Myeloid Leukemia Phase III Trials

A Look at Ongoing Acute Myeloid Leukemia Phase III Trials from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What are the acute myeloid leukemia (AML) Phase III clinical trials that are ongoing? Dr. Naval Daver from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center shares his perspective about encouraging trials. Learn about the MORPHO Study and others. 

[ACT]IVATION TIP from Dr. Daver: “The maintenance with gilteritinib and the MORPHO Study, as well as the relapsed refractory study as well as the use of a e-selectin inhibitor called uproleselan, and hopefully this will lead to approval of the next batch of three or four drugs, which will further improve outcomes for frontline as well as relapsed AML.”

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Transcript: 

Art:

Dr. Daver, can you speak to some of the ongoing Phase III trials in AML, what are you most excited about?

Dr. Naval Daver:

This time there are numerous ongoing phase three in acute myeloid leukemia, some in the frontline, some in the relapse setting. In the frontline setting, the ones that I’m most excited about are trials incorporating a novel immunotherapeutic pathway called the CD47 antibody that works to activation of macrophages, these are looking at a very high-risk molecular group of acute myeloid leukemia, the TP53 in adverse cytogenetics, and there are two randomized phase threes with this agent, one focused on TP53 mutated AML looking at the azacitidine and magrolimab versus the current standard of care FDA-approved azacitidine-venetoclax (Onureg or Vidaza-Venclexta) in TP53 mutated. 

The other is actually looking at all older unfit AML so trying to improve on azacitidine venetoclax doublet with a triplet, so this is looking at azacitidine venetoclax magrolimab versus azacitidine-venetoclax placebo so if both of these trials are positive, then this will lead to incorporation of immunotherapy in the frontline setting in AML, which is exciting and something we’ve been working towards for the last 10, 15 years.

The other Phase III trials in the frontline setting or in the maintenance setting really that I’m excited about is called the MORPHO Study…this is using a FLT3 inhibitor gilteritinib (Xospata) as a maintenance post-transplant, so we know FLT3-mutated patients respond well, when they receive intensive induction FLT3 inhibitor, we still need to take them to transplant because even though the initial response is good, many can relapse. 

So we actually try to give to the cycles of intensive induction for the move to transplant, and then if we start there, we still see at about 40 percent of these patients can relapse in the next three years, so this has led to efforts to add a maintenance FLT3 inhibitor gilteritinib single agent post-transplant as a maintenance for one to two years versus placebo observation, which has historically been a standard of care, and so this is being looked at a large multi-center called the MORPHO Study that we hope to get data from in the near future.

Another study in the similar design that’s being done by the UK cooperative group is looking at maintenance with the oral azacitidine, post-transplant for non-FLT3, so similarly, can we overall improved outcomes not just for FLT3, but the general patient population is going to transplant by using the maintenance oral azacitidine post-transplant versus placebo.

And in the relapse setting, there is a very novel unique oral therapy drug called uproleselan, which is an e-selectin inhibitor, and this agent is now being combined with traditional salvaged chemotherapy such as FLAG-Ida mec versus the placebo mec plus FLAG-Ida or mec in the relapse setting.

And that’s what he’s actually been completed to enrollment, and we’re hoping to hear data from that in the near future. So these are the major randomized studies focusing on TP53, FLT3, and relapsed refractory AML  that we’re looking for in the near future and hopefully could lead to two or three more new approvals in the AML space.

My activation tip for this question is that there are ongoing numerous frontline Phase III as well as relapsed refractory Phase III, targeted immunotherapy approaches, specifically among these we’re excited about the CD47 antibodies. The maintenance with gilteritinib and the MORPHO Study, as well as the relapsed refractory study as well as the use of a e-selectin inhibitor called uproleselan, and hopefully this will lead to approval of the next batch of three or four drugs, which will further improve outcomes for frontline as well as relapsed AML. 

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AML Clinical Trials Critical to Treatment Breakthroughs and Improvements

AML Clinical Trials Critical to Treatment Breakthroughs and Improvements from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Why are acute myeloid leukemia (AML) clinical trials so critical? Dr. Naval Daver from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center shares his perspective about clinical trials. Learn how clinical trials help both current and future AML patients. 

[ACT]IVATION TIP from Dr. Daver:Clinical  trials are critical, both for the patients themselves to get access to what we call tomorrow’s medicine today as well as potentially to help move the entire field forward.”

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A Look at Treatment Strategies for High-Risk AML Patients

A Look at Treatment Strategies for High-Risk AML Patients

Transcript: 

Art:

Dr. Daver, what is the importance of clinical trial participation as it relates to breakthroughs in AML, and what advice do you have for AML patients considering a clinical trial?

Dr. Naval Daver: Clinical trials are critical for the progress that we have already seen an acute myeloid leukemia, the drugs that have been improved in the last six, seven years, including venetoclax (Venclexta), FLT3 inhibitors, midostaurin (Rydapt or Tauritmo),  gilteritinib (Xospata), hopefully quizartinib other emerging targeted therapies…IDH1, IDH2 inhibitors, menin inhibitors, CD47 antibodies, we’ve learned about all of them and have got approvals and many of them through the ongoing clinical trials.

I think it’s very important for patients to realize that in most large academic centers, we will only participate in the clinical trial if we think it has the potential to improve the standard of care in the future. There’s very little incentive for academic investigators or clinical investigators, such as myself, we’re very, very busy to get involved in a trial if we don’t think that it has the potential to improve the outcome or change the nature of AML therapy in the future, so a lot of patients often ask me, Oh, I want the randomized or placebo arm. There is no real placebo alone in any AML study that I’m aware of, most of the studies will use standard of care, which is what you would’ve gotten wherever you were getting treatment at home, locally, community hospital versus a standard of care plus where the new drug will be added, whether it’s the FLT3 inhibitor, the CD47 antibody, the menin inhibitor 

So there’s a good chance, 50 percent that you’re going to get standard of care plus that we think has the potential to improve the outcome, of course, you never know, that’s what you do, the trial, but we think based on the previous pre-clinical data to pass when the page to deliver this looks like it will improve the outcome for this molecular or site group versus standard of care, which is what you will have gotten.

So I think it’s important to realize that you will never get less on standard of care and any clinical trial, at least in the AML field, and at least in our experience that they understand. 

Now, beyond that, there’s also a Phase I in two states, and those are the ones that we focus on quite a bit at MD Anderson, these are single arm studies, meaning everybody will get the investigational agent combo, so azacitidine (Onureg or Vidaza) and venetoclax (Venclexta), we were one of the first sites to work on and leave this study and all of our patients in 2015, 2016, we’re getting this regiment, it was not approved to much later in 2019, 2020, and for those three, four years, our patients, hundreds of patients were able to get that combination, which probably cured many, many more than would have been cured to the standard of care until, of course, I’ve got a pro four years later, but for an option, of course, you cannot wait four years, so I’m a huge believer in clinical trials, I think it’s really, really important, both for the patients themselves as well as for the field, for us to be able to move the entire AML field forward for the next decade, and I would very strongly consider looking at or discussing with your treating physician trial options, and then you can look at them on your own through clinicaltrials.gov, or other sites with leukema and lymphoma that give a lot of information on clinical trials. 

So my activation tip related to this question is that I think clinical  trials are critical, both for the patients themselves to get access to what we call tomorrow’s medicine today as well as potentially to help move the entire field forward, all of the clinical drug approvals in progress we have seen in AML in the last six, seven years have come through clinical trials that patients in the past have agreed to kindly participate and helped probably themselves by getting better medications and combinations, and definitely the field to move forward, so definitely a big proponent for clinical trials. 

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A Look at Treatment Strategies for High-Risk AML Patients

A Look at Treatment Strategies for High-Risk AML Patients from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What acute myeloid leukemia (AML) treatments are available for high-risk patients? Dr. Naval Daver from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center discusses various mutations, potential for cure, and clinical trials. Learn about the outlook for high-risk AML treatments.

[ACT]IVATION TIP from Dr. Daver:The best way to get up to these agents is to go on clinical trials and incorporate these therapies, both in the frontline setting as well as in the relapsed refractory setting.” 

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Transcript: 

Art:

Dr. Daver, what treatment strategies are available for high-risk AML patients?

Dr. Naval Daver:

High-risk AML patients includes a group of a number of different mutations, and cytogenetic abnormalities, this includes TP53 mutation, as well as adverse cytogenetics, which includes chromosome 17, deletion 5, deletion 7, as well as complex carrier type. This entire group historically had a poor outcome and has had limited responses to traditional intensive chemo, even if we achieve responses there, usually short-lived.

We do have some patients where we are able to achieve remission with intensive chemo or with azacitidine-venetoclax (Vidaza-Venclexta) and transition and transmission them transplant with about 25 to 30 percent potentially achieving a long-term remission and possible cure. 

But aside from that, there is very little potential to cure these patients with just traditional intensive chemo, venetoclax in this area, there has been developments with the emergence new class of immunotherapy drugs, called CD47 antibodies, the one that’s most advanced in this field is a drug called magrolimab, and we are evaluating the drugs such as magrolimab in combination with azacitidine as well as in combination with azacitidine-venetoclax and are seeing high remission rates, both in TP53 mutated and TP53 wild type.

So this pathway that works by activating a macrophages or the immune system to attack the tumor cells, seems to be in some way mutation agnostic with response rates being maintained even in the traditional high-risk subsets, especially such as TP53 and complex cytogenetics for some of the other high-risk groups such as MLL, we’re using targeted therapies like menin inhibitors, and these seem to work well in those patients who have these adverse cytogenetic molecular abnormalities, so there is progress, and we think that the CD47 antibody field and hopefully the main inhibitor feed will be able to improve outcomes in these traditionally molecular cytogenetic subsets.

My activation point related to this question is for high-risk mutations and cytogenetic commonalities such as TP53 complex carrier chromosome 17 MLL,  best hope at this time is in clinical trials evaluating novel therapies such as CD47 antibodies and menin inhibitors. These are not yet FDA-approved, but based on emerging data from the ongoing Phase I, II studies, we think that there is a good chance they will be approved in the future.

However, this time, the best way to get up to these agents is to go on clinical trials and incorporate these therapies, both in the frontline setting as well as in the relapsed refractory setting. 

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Advice for Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patients Seeking a Clinical Trial

Advice for Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patients Seeking a Clinical Trial from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Where can acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients find information about clinical trials? Watch as expert Dr. Catherine Lai shares clinical trial resources and details about the clinical trials process in patient care.

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Advice for Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patients Seeking a Clinical Trial

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Transcript:

Sasha Tanori:

My care team suggested a clinical trial for a new drug focusing on improving my lung function, fortunately, my lungs improved on their own. Dr. Lai, not every AML patient is offered a clinical trial as a care option, what advice do you have for AML patients who are seeking clinical trials, and what’s the best way to locate one?

Dr. Catherine Lai:

Yeah, so this is an area, a huge area of unmet need, I would say in general, across all oncology trials, and I think less than 10 percent of the patient population is on trials, there’s a lot of stigmas around clinical trials and are you getting…are you getting a drug that we don’t know what’s going to work, am I being…am I being tested? In oncology, I would say for the most part, we try to make trials where you’re being measured to the standard, so you’re getting the standard plus, or we’re trying not to…just in terms of doing what’s best for the patient, in general, I don’t offer trials to patients where I don’t think that there’s scientifically a rationale for those drugs, but to answer your question, the best place to look is on clinicaltrials.gov. That’s cumbersome. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, I can give you a lot of unnecessary information. There are a lot of other resources out there, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is a great resource. I know that they have online or people that you can talk to in terms of helping you direct specific clinical trials, I know depending on where you live in the country, there are other local new chapters, oncology chapters that we have that can help patients find…

And have access to clinical trials, and then I think the biggest thing is just if a patient is with the community oncologist, having enough education to say, can I have a referral to an academic institution where they can ask those questions and get that information, and local community oncologists are fantastic, but they see everything, they see breast cancer, they see one cancer where the academic centers were specialized where all I see is leukemia and MDS kind of acute leukemias. So, it’s just a different set of knowledge.

Expert Advice for AML Patients When Making Treatment Choices

Expert Advice for AML Patients When Making Treatment Choices from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What are key factors to consider for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients when making treatment decisions? Dr. David Sallman reviews important considerations and their impact on treatment choices, and shares questions patients should ask their doctor to receive optimal care. 

Dr. David Sallman is an Assistant Member in the Department of Malignant Hematology at Moffitt Cancer Center where he specializes in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). Learn more about Dr. Sallman, here.

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How Molecular Testing Has Transformed AML Treatment Options


Transcript:

Katherine:

When making a treatment choice, what are three key considerations for AML patients?

Dr. Sallman:

Yeah, so I think the initial probably two main questions are is the patient fit or non-fit, and that’s really an evolving definition. I think historically, we had this magical age if you’re less than 60 or less than 65 years of age, but we’ve really gone past that significantly. So, does a patient have significant medical problems, decreased performance status that we would not think about intensive therapy is one of the main questions. I think what feeds into that. And the other big question is what is the underlying mutations that the patient has which really gives us a prognostic risk from a disease perspective.

With certain mutations and subgroups being much more sensitive to intensive chemotherapy and other groups really where that option is poor irrespective of age. So, I think the most important thing is how does the patient look, what is their fitness level, and what are the underlying cytogenetic and molecular changes that impact their disease.

I think third, of course, is really involving the patient in their preferences, because I think some of these can really be a decision between several options.

Katherine:

What’s the role of the patient in making treatment decisions?

Dr. Sallman:

Yeah, the patient has to be central. I’m really hoping that we’ve moved a long way from the paternalistic practices in the past.

I think there are still many instances where there’s sort of a clear best option from a medical perspective, but there’s a lot of social logistics. If you’re getting intensive therapy, as an example, you’re going to be in the hospital four to five weeks, what’s your support system? What financial, other impact factors, all of these things come into play. I think it’s a tough group. I think the patients that are, let’s say, 60 to 70, because responses are somewhat similar across non-intensive and intensive options, I think there’s the question of is the goal long-term, is the goal quality of life, and I think all of those really are impactful.

I think it can be very challenging to go through all of the specific numbers and how a patient comprehends that or not, but really trying to draw out is their goal long-term, is their goal quality of life, give them the pros and cons of the potential options in that setting, and then real-time discuss that as we go. I think when they have that buy-in from their goals, it’s important.

These are complicated regimens and patient compliance and follow-up and all that are really critical to the overall safety and good outcomes of these patients.

Katherine:

Are there questions that patients should ask in their proposed treatment plan?

Dr. Sallman:

Yeah. I think it’s always important to discuss what options. I think any time there’s a one-option, if there is a one-option, why? Maybe because standard of care in this group is so good that it’s not really reasonable to necessarily offer a main alternative regimen. I think it’s important to understand as much of the disease as possible. If you’re choosing this regimen, why are you doing it? I think asking about the mutations is important, although that’s a very complicated thing to explain. Some patients like it and some patients don’t, and I think you have to do that in your team-based relationship.

I think always asking about clinical trials is an important question to ask. Should they be getting a second opinion? These are overall very rare diseases, and we highly favor an initial consultation at an academic center that specializes in this. I’d say a majority of my patients are ultimately treated in the community. But especially given that the regimens are becoming much more complicated, the intensity of watching their counts, managing side effects, titrating medications, it’s really great to have a team-based model between academic and community centers and that can’t really ever happen if they never come to us. As much as possible for that to occur I think is important as well.

How Molecular Testing Has Transformed AML Treatment Options

How Molecular Testing Has Transformed AML Treatment Options from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

How has molecular testing impacted approaches to acute myeloid leukemia (AML) therapy? Dr. David Sallman explains how molecular testing has transformed AML care, including a discussion of risk assessment and the role of next-generation sequencing (NGS) in tailoring care for each patient. 

Dr. David Sallman is an Assistant Member in the Department of Malignant Hematology at Moffitt Cancer Center where he specializes in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). Learn more about Dr. Sallman, here.

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Understanding AML Induction and Consolidation Therapy

Transcript:

Katherine:

How has molecular testing changed the landscape of therapy for AML?

Dr. Sallman:

Yeah, it’s really transformed it, and it’s really a constantly evolving paradigm. We have updated classifications; most people utilizing the ELN system.

So, based on both cytogenetic and molecular factors, you can ultimately go into good risk, intermediate risk, adverse risk. In general, for fit patients for good risk, we focus on curative intent, ideally with chemotherapy alone. For intermediate and adverse, typically we’re incorporating allogeneic stem cell transplant. So, that’s one of the main things that really guides treatment really from the beginning and throughout.

Then, I think really where it’s evolving is personalized therapy. So, it’s really not a one-size-fits-all treatment paradigm, it’s you have mutation A, B, you’re this age, this fitness, and we put all those things together to ideally come up with the best treatment plan for the patient.

Katherine:

Is molecular testing standard following an AML diagnosis or is this something that patients should ask for?

Dr. Sallman:

It definitely should be standard and I think the challenge is when you say the word “molecular,” it means lots of things to different people. I think in the community, as targeted medications were first approved, so this was with FLT3 inhibitors, subsequently IDH1 and IDH2 inhibitors, I think people are realizing yes, we have to send these sequencing panels, but there’s a potpourri of choices from a lot of different commercial vendors.

Really the key and one of the main messages we try to get across is you really have to assess for both FLT3 as well as really a comprehensive next-gen sequencing panel in order to cover all of the relevant genes at diagnosis and likely at other time points such as relapsed or refractory disease.

So, there’s no question, it’s standard, although unfortunately, it’s still not uncommon where the comprehensive panels are not sent and you’re left with somewhat not a complete picture for your patients. Since we’re personalizing everything, it’s really quite critical to have these data.

Katherine:

Yeah. How does inhibitor therapy work to treat AML?

Dr. Sallman:

So, you have a gene that turns on and turns off as we go, but with the mutation, it’s basically turned on all the time. Then, you can have targeted pills that basically turn it off. Most commonly this is done, there’s the active

or energy site for these different genes, and so these therapies can really specifically block that. I wouldn’t say that’s the only mechanism. There are IDH1 and IDH2 inhibitors and they’re very specific for those mutations. Each mutation may have a little bit different end biology. In general, you have mutation A, and we’re going to turn it off with drug that inhibits A.

Medical Update on Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML)

This podcast was originally published on cancercare.org by Mary-Elizabeth Percival, Eytan M. Stein, Carolyn Messner on June 14, 2019, you can find it here.

 

Topics Covered

  • Overview of Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML)
  • Current Treatment Approaches
  • Transplantation as a Treatment Option for AML
  • New Therapies
  • The Role of Clinical Trials: How They Increase Your Treatment Options
  • Clinical Trial Updates
  • Symptom, Side Effect & Pain Management Tips
  • Key Questions to Ask Your Health Care Team
  • Quality-of-Life Concerns
  • Questions for Our Panel of Experts

Panel of Experts

Mary-Elizabeth Percival, MD, MS

Assistant Professor of Medicine (Hematology), University of Washington, Assistant Member (Clinical Research Division), Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Attending Physician, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance

Eytan M. Stein, MD

Hematologic Oncologist, Clinical Trialist, Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Leukemia Service, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Carolyn Messner, DSW, OSW-C, FAPOS, FAOSW

Director of Education and Training, CancerCare

Treating Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)

This podcast was originally published on The Bloodline With LLS on May 21, 2019, here.

 

There have been few advances in treatment for AML in 40 years. Why is acute myeloid leukemia (AML) so difficult to treat? What is the current treatment for AML? How is The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) striving to change that? How are targeted therapies being used for patients? Is immediate treatment for patients necessary for all AML patients? How does a patient’s ethnic background play a role in finding a matching bone marrow donor?

Join Alicia and Lizette as they address these questions and more with Dr. Martha Arellano from Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. On this episode, Dr. Arellano addresses current treatment and treatment advances for AML, including stem cell transplantation and cellular therapy. She also explains the goal and impact of the Beat AML Master Trial, a groundbreaking collaborative and targeted clinical trial for patients with AML. Listen in as Dr. Arellano shares her excitement about the future of treatment for AML.