ALBERT

Description: Background. CHR-2797 is a novel, orally bioavailable agent which displays potent, tumor cell-selective, anti-proliferative properties. It is an inhibitor of Zn++-dependent aminopeptidases and generates signs of amino acid deprivation in sensitive cells, decreased protein synthesis and an increase in the level of the pro-apoptotic protein, NOXA. CHR-79888 is an active metabolite of CHR-2797. Methods. This was an open label, single agent, dose escalating phase I salvage study to assess tolerance, MTD/DLT, activity, and pharmacokinetics of CHR-2797 in patients with hematological malignancies. Elderly patients and/or relapsed patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), and multiple myeloma (MM) were eligible. Patients were treated with escalating once daily doses (60–180 mg) for up to 84 days or until progressive disease (PD). Clinical responses were assessed by monthly bone marrow aspirates in AML/MDS patients and by M-protein levels in MM patients. Results. Sixteen adults (4 women, 12 men) of median age 70 yrs, (range 45–84 yrs) were accrued between May 2006 and Jan 2007: 13 patients with AML, 1 with MDS, and 2 with MM. Thirteen patients finished the dose finding phase of 28 days and 6 patients continued for at least 84 days. CHR-2797 was well tolerated and, except for one patient with grade III ALT elevation, no grade III/IV drug related non-hematological toxicity was observed during the first 28 days of treatment. Two patients on 180 mg developed DLT that was considered drug related: 〉75 percent reduction in platelet count. CHR-2797 had no influence on hemoglobin or neutrophils in this trial. Overall the most frequently reported adverse events were thrombocytopenia (6.7%), diarrhea (4.5%), dizziness (3.9%), and fatigue (3.9%). Five AML patients died in the first 3 months of the trial or within 4 weeks of discontinuing CHR-2797: 3 due to disease progression and 2 following a MI (not related to drug). Bone marrow studies revealed complete responses (〈 5% blasts in bone marrow) in 3/12 AML patients after 1–3 months of therapy (60 and 130mg), one of which was also a cytogenetic response. One of the 2 responding patients on 130 mg was evaluated as a CRp at 3 months; this patient was in remission for 3 months following platelet recovery after the drug was stopped. One further AML patient (60 mg) became completely transfusion independent and remained so for 6 weeks. Good exposure to CHR-2797, including levels of the active metabolite CHR-79888 has been observed on days 1 and 28 with a terminal half life (for 79888) of 8– 11 hours. Conclusions. Oral once daily CHR-2797 in AML/MDS/MM patients with adverse prognostic risk was well tolerated. MTD for maintenance therapy was reached at 180 mg. Single agent CHR-2797 therapy showed encouraging clinical activity (incl. 3/12 CRs) in these elderly and poor risk AML patients who were able to continue therapy for at least 28 days. Because of the favorable results a phase II study with CHR-2797 in advanced AML is currently in progress.

Description: Introduction Aberrant DNA methylation is a common feature of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and increases with age. DNMT inhibitors such as Azacitidine (AZA) can induce meaningful responses and remissions in AML as monotherapy. The combination of AZA with standard chemotherapy (7+3) has not been tested in a randomized trial. Patients and study design The AML-AZA trial compared AZA directly followed by standard induction therapy, AZA followed by standard consolidation, and further Azacitdine maintenance with standard induction and consolidation without AZA in older patients with AML. All patients received standard Cytarabine (100 mg/sqm) and Daunorubicin (60 mg/sqm) induction (“7+3”) and up to two cycles of intermediate dose Cytarabine (1 g/sqm q12hr days 1, 3, 5) as consolidation therapy. AZA (75 mg/sqm for 5 days) preceded each therapy cycle in the AZA arm. In addition, AZA maintenance for up to 1 year was also scheduled for patients in the AZA arm. 105 patients were randomized to receive AZA plus Cytarabine plus Daunorubicin as induction therapy (AZA + 7+3) and 109 patients to receive 7+3 only (control group). Median age was 70 years in both treatment arms. Patient cohorts were well balanced with regard to blast counts in bone marrow, secondary versus de novo AML and molecular genetics risk group. More patients in the AZA + 7+3 arm (39/105; 37.1%) than in the control group (25/109; 22.9%) showed high risk cytogenetics (p=0.057). Event free survival (EFS) was the primary end point. Secondary endpoints were overall survival (OS), complete remission (CR) rate, toxicity and different treatment response according to molecular markers. Results Overall, 214 of 216 planned patients were enrolled into the AML-AZA trial. Due to a higher number of severe adverse events (SAE), AZA administration was stopped after recruitment of 214 patients whereas chemotherapy was continued as planned. Percentages of patients in the AZA arm with AZA doses as initially planned were as follows: 99% for first induction cycle, 72% for the second induction cycle. AZA as maintenance therapy for at least one cycle was delivered to 18% of patients in the AZA group. At least one SAE occurred in 51% of AZA + 7+3 patients compared to 31% of 7+3 patients (p=0.005). Cardiac disorders with CTCAE grade 3-5 occurred more frequently in the AZA + 7+3 arm (n = 15) than in the 7+3 arm (n = 6) (not significant). Leukopenia was prolonged by one day (median 23 vs 22 days) in the AZA + 7+3 group (p=0.043), whereas time of thrombocytopenia was not different. The early death rates at 30, 60 and 90 days did not differ significantly between treatment groups. Efficacy analyses were performed on an intention-to-treat basis. Median EFS as the primary endpoint was 6 months in both treatment arms (p=0.96). Median OS was 16 months for patients treated with AZA + 7+3 and 21 months for 7+3 (p=0.35). Median relapse free survival was 12 months in both treatment arms (p=0.95). 48 of 100 patients (48%) in the AZA + 7+3 arm achieved complete remission (CR) after induction therapy versus 57 of 109 patients (52%) in the 7+3 arm (p=0.58). DNMT3A exon 23 mutations were detected in 30 out of 162 analyzed patients. Exploratory analyses were performed to detect a potential interaction between AZA + 7+3 response and DNMT3A mutation status. Trends for improved EFS and OS were noted for AZA + 7+3 treatment in DNMT3A mutated patients. Conclusion AZA as addition prior to standard induction and consolidation chemotherapy does not prolong EFS and OS in unselected older AML patients and it is more toxic. However, a trend towards better efficacy in patients with DNMT3A mutation was observed and should be further explored. Disclosures Müller-Tidow: Celgene: Honoraria, Research Funding. Thiede:AgenDix GmbH: Equity Ownership, Research Funding; Illumina: Research Support, Research Support Other. Kiehl:Roche: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Brümmendorf:Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Patents & Royalties, Research Funding. Ehninger:GEMoaB GmbH: Consultancy, Patents & Royalties.

Description: Purpose: The enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) is a histone methyltransferase and key epigenetic regulator involved in transcriptional repression and embryonic development. Loss of EZH2 activity by inactivating mutations is associated with poor prognosis in myeloid malignancies such as MDS. More recently, EZH2 inactivation was shown to induce chemoresistance in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) (Göllner et al., 2017). Data on the frequency and prognostic role of EZH2-mutations in AML are rare and mostly confined to smaller cohorts. To investigate the prevalence and prognostic impact of this alteration in more detail, we analyzed a large cohort of AML patients (n = 1604) for EZH2 mutations. Patients and Methods: All patients analyzed had newly diagnosed AML, were registered in clinical protocols of the Study Alliance Leukemia (SAL) (AML96, AML2003 or AML60+, SORAML) and had available material at diagnosis. Screening for EZH2 mutations and associated alterations was done using Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) (TruSight Myeloid Sequencing Panel, Illumina) on an Illumina MiSeq-system using bone marrow or peripheral blood. Detection was conducted with a defined cut-off of 5% variant allele frequency (VAF). All samples below the predefined threshold were classified as EZH2 wild type (wt). Patient clinical characteristics and co-mutations were analyzed according to the mutational status. Furthermore, multivariate analysis was used to identify the impact of EZH2 mutations on outcome. Results: EZH2-mutations were found in 63 of 1604 (4%) patients, with a median VAF of 44% (range 6-97%; median coverage 3077x). Mutations were detected within several exons (2-6; 8-12; 14-20) with highest frequencies in exons 17 and 18 (29%). The majority of detected mutations (71% missense and 29% nonsense/frameshift) were single nucleotide variants (SNVs) (87%), followed by small indel mutations. Descriptive statistics of clinical parameters and associated co-mutations revealed significant differences between EZH2-mut and -wt patients. At diagnosis, patients with EZH2 mutations were significantly older (median age 59 yrs) than EZH2-wt patients (median 56 yrs; p=0.044). In addition, significantly fewer EZH2-mut patients (71%) were diagnosed with de novo AML compared to EZH2-wt patients (84%; p=0.036). Accordingly, EZH2-mut patients had a higher rate of secondary acute myeloid leukemia (sAML) (21%), evolving from prior MDS or after prior chemotherapy (tAML) (8%; p=0.036). Also, bone marrow (and blood) blast counts differed between the two groups (EZH2-mut patients had significantly lower BM and PB blast counts; p=0.013). In contrast, no differences were observed for WBC counts, karyotype, ECOG performance status and ELN-2017 risk category compared to EZH2-wt patients. Based on cytogenetics according to the 2017 ELN criteria, 35% of EZH2-mut patients were categorized with favorable risk, 28% had intermediate and 37% adverse risk. No association was seen with -7/7q-. In the group of EZH2-mut AML patients, significantly higher rates of co-mutations were detected in RUNX1 (25%), ASXL1 (22%) and NRAS (25%) compared to EZH2-wt patients (with 10%; 8% and 15%, respectively). Vice versa, concomitant mutations in NPM1 were (non-significantly) more common in EZH2-wt patients (33%) vs EZH2-mut patients (21%). For other frequently mutated genes in AML there was no major difference between EZH2-mut and -wt patients, e.g. FLT3ITD (13%), FLT3TKD (10%) and CEBPA (24%), as well as genes encoding epigenetic modifiers, namely, DNMT3A (21%), IDH1/2 (11/14%), and TET2 (21%). The correlation of EZH2 mutational status with clinical outcomes showed no effect of EZH2 mutations on the rate of complete remission (CR), relapse free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) (with a median OS of 18.4 and 17.1 months for EZH2-mut and -wt patients, respectively) in the univariate analyses. Likewise, the multivariate analysis with clinical variable such as age, cytogenetics and WBC using Cox proportional hazard regression, revealed that EZH2 mutations were not an independent risk factor for OS or RFS. Conclusion EZH mutations are recurrent alterations in patients with AML. The association with certain clinical factors and typical mutations such as RUNX1 and ASXL1 points to the fact that these mutations are associated with secondary AML. Our data do not indicate that EZH2 mutations represent an independent prognostic factor. Disclosures Middeke: Janssen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Abbvie: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Roche: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Rollig:Bayer: Research Funding; Janssen: Research Funding. Scholl:Jazz Pharma: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Abbivie: Other: Travel support; Alexion: Other: Travel support; MDS: Other: Travel support; Novartis: Other: Travel support; Deutsche Krebshilfe: Research Funding; Carreras Foundation: Research Funding; Pfizer: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Hochhaus:Pfizer: Research Funding; Incyte: Research Funding; Novartis: Research Funding; Bristol-Myers Squibb: Research Funding; Takeda: Research Funding. Brümmendorf:Janssen: Consultancy; Takeda: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy, Research Funding; Merck: Consultancy; Pfizer: Consultancy, Research Funding. Burchert:AOP Orphan: Honoraria, Research Funding; Bayer: Research Funding; Pfizer: Honoraria; Bristol Myers Squibb: Honoraria, Research Funding; Novartis: Research Funding. Krause:Novartis: Research Funding. Hänel:Amgen: Honoraria; Roche: Honoraria; Takeda: Honoraria; Novartis: Honoraria. Platzbecker:Celgene: Research Funding. Mayer:Eisai: Research Funding; Novartis: Research Funding; Roche: Research Funding; Johnson & Johnson: Research Funding; Affimed: Research Funding. Serve:Bayer: Research Funding. Ehninger:Cellex Gesellschaft fuer Zellgewinnung mbH: Employment, Equity Ownership; Bayer: Research Funding; GEMoaB Monoclonals GmbH: Employment, Equity Ownership. Thiede:AgenDix: Other: Ownership; Novartis: Honoraria, Research Funding.

Description: In fit patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML), immediate treatment start is recommended due to the poor prognosis of untreated acute leukemia. We explored the relationship between time from diagnosis to treatment start (TDT) and prognosis in a large real-world data set from the German Study Alliance Leukemia–Acute Myeloid Leukemia (SAL-AML) registry. All registered non–acute promyelocytic leukemia patients with intensive induction treatment and a minimum 12 months of follow-up were selected (n = 2263). We analyzed influence of TDT on remission, early death, and overall survival (OS) in univariable analyses for each day of treatment delay, in groups of 0 to 5, 6 to 10, 11 to 15, and 〉15 days of TDT, adjusted for influence of established prognostic variables on outcomes. Median TDT was 3 days (interquartile range, 2-7). Unadjusted 2-year OS rates, stratified by TDT of 0 to 5, 6 to 10, 11 to 15, and 〉15 days, were 51%, 48%, 44%, and 50% (P = .211). In multivariable Cox regression analysis accounting for established prognostic variables, the TDT hazard ratio as a continuous variable was 1.00 (P = .617). In OS analyses, separately stratified for age ≤60 and 〉60 years and for high vs lower initial white blood cell count, no significant differences between TDT groups were observed. Our study suggests that TDT is not related to survival. As stratification in intensive first-line AML treatment evolves, TDT data suggest that it may be a feasible approach to wait for genetic and other laboratory test results so that clinically stable patients are assigned the best available treatment option. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT03188874.

Description: Key Points Azacitidine increased median overall survival by 3.8 months vs current commonly used AML treatments (10.4 vs 6.5 months; P = .1009). Azacitidine safety in patients age ≥65 years with AML (〉30% blasts) was consistent with its known safety profile in other trials.

Description: Abstract 2723 Poster Board II-699 Indolent and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) are predominantly treated with chemotherapy or a combination of chemotherapy with monoclonal antibodies. Despite high initial response rates, eventually almost all patients however relapse, leaving the disease incurable. Moreover, with increasing numbers of regimens administered, the responsiveness of patients is reduced. Blinatumomab is a single-chain bispecific antibody construct with specificity for CD19 and CD3, belonging to the class of bispecific T cell engager (BiTE®). Here, we report on patients in an ongoing phase 1 trial treated at a dose of 60 μg/m2/d for 4–8-week by continuous i.v. infusion with single-agent blinatumomab. In total, 12 patients with indolent mainly follicular lymphoma or MCL were treated at 60 μg/m2/d during the first treatment cycle. 11/12 patients showed an objective response (7 PR and 4 CR). As of July 2009, median response duration was 12 months with 6 out of 11 responses still ongoing. The single non-responding patient experienced a reversible, neurological adverse event leading to early discontinuation of treatment. Of the 11 responders, one patient developed a port infection and 4 patients showed neurological symptoms, which were all fully reversible. In order to mitigate neurological adverse events during first dosing, which can occur in a defined subset of patients, patients were treated for 1–2 weeks with a lower initial dose (5 and/or 15 μg/m2/d) followed by a maintenance dose of 60 μg/m2/d. A lower starting dose appeared to ameliorate initial adverse events to an extent that treatment could be continued without interruption. Taken together, our data confirm a high single-agent activity of 60 μg/m2/d blinatumomab infused for 4–8 week with long lasting remissions and a favorable risk/benefit profile. The confirmed dose will be considered for further clinical development of blinatumomab in follicular lymphoma and MCL. New data on patients treated with a dose of 90 μg/m2/d will be presented. Disclosures: Nagorsen: Micromet: Employment, Equity Ownership. Zugmaier:Micromet: Employment, Equity Ownership. Schmidt:Micromet: Employment, Equity Ownership. Klappers:Micromet: Employment, Equity Ownership. Baeuerle:Micromet: Employment, Equity Ownership. Kufer:Micromet: Employment, Equity Ownership, Patents & Royalties. Bargou:Micromet: Consultancy, Patents & Royalties.

Description: Introduction Salvage high dose chemotherapy (HDCT) followed by autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) is used in fit patients with relapsed multiple myeloma (RMM) in clinical practice. However, the role of this approach in the era of continuous novel agent based treatment has not been defined in randomized trials. The ReLApsE trial compared lenalidomide/dexamethasone (Rd) re-induction, salvage HDCT/ASCT and lenalidomide (R) maintenance with standard continuous Rd in a randomized controlled multicenter trial. Methods Between 2010 and 2016, 282 patients were randomized of whom 277 constituted the intention-to-treat (ITT) population (arm B/A n=139/138). Arm B received 3 cycles of Rd (lenalidomide 25 mg, day 1-21; dexamethasone 40 mg, day 1, 8, 15, 22; 4 week cycles) re-induction, HDCT (melphalan 200 mg/m2), ASCT and R maintenance (10 mg daily) until progression (PD). Arm A was treated with Rd until PD. In both arms stem cells were harvested after the 3rd Rd cycle if no back-up transplant was available. Key inclusion criteria were 1-3 prior therapy lines, age ≤ 75 years, time to PD ≥ 12 months in case of front-line HDCT/ASCT and WHO PS ≤ 2. The primary endpoint was progression free survival (PFS). Secondary endpoints included overall survival (OS), response rates and toxicity. ISRCTN16345835, Eudra CT-No: 2009-013856-61. Results Arm B and A were balanced regarding age (median 61.3 vs. 62.2 years), ISS (I/II/III in 62.6/24.4/13% vs. 59.7/31/9.3%) and WHO PS (0/1/2 in 69.1/30.9/0% vs. 76.1/23.2/0.7%). Almost all patients had only 1 prior therapy line (arm B: 94.2% vs. arm A: 93.5%) and had received front-line HDCT/ASCT (92.8% vs. 94.2%). More patients in arm B had high risk cytogenetic aberrations (HR-CA; 42.9% vs. 31.6%) based on a higher frequency of t(4;14) (20.2% vs. 10.1%). The overall response rate (≥ partial response; ORR) for arm B and A was 77.9% and 74.6% (p=0.57) with 49.3% and 47.1% (p=0.81) achieving ≥ very good partial response as best response. Within a median follow up of 36.3 months, 183 PFS events and 76 deaths occurred. Median PFS in the ITT population was 20.7 months in arm B and 18.8 months in arm A without a statistically significant difference (HR 0.87; 95% CI 0.65-1.16; p=0.34). Median OS was not reached (NR) in arm B vs. 62.7 months in arm A (HR 0.81; 95% CI 0.52-1.28; p=0.37). In arm B, 41 patients (29.5%) did not receive the planned HDCT/ASCT. Thus, exploratory landmark (LM) analyses from HDCT and the contemporaneous Rd cycle 5 in arm A were performed (median interval from randomization to HDCT/Rd cycle 5: 117/122 days; n=103[B]/114[A]). They showed a trend towards superior PFS (23.3 vs. 20.1 months; HR 0.74; p=0.09) and significantly superior OS (NR vs. 57 months; HR 0.56; p=0.046) in arm B vs. A. Multivariate analyses revealed significant associations of treatment in arm B with superior LM PFS (HR 0.6; p=0.01) and LM OS (HR 0.39; p=0.006). Other factors in the LM multivariate models showing significant associations with survival were HR-CA (PFS, OS), number of prior therapy lines (PFS), and age (PFS). The ORR in arm B after HDCT/ASCT was significantly higher than in arm A after Rd cycle 5 (82.3% vs. 69.6%; p=0.04). Grade ≥3 adverse events were reported in 83% (arm B) and 74.5% (arm A; p=0.11). Grade ≥3 leukopenia/neutropenia was reported in 61.5 vs. 24.8% (p

Description: Abstract 2180 Purpose: Standard chemotherapy is curative only in a minority of older patients with AML and chemotherapy efficacy in this patient group has not improved in the last decade. Epigenetic alterations such as aberrant promoter DNA methylation occur frequently in AML patients and might provide novel targets for therapy improvement. The demethylating agent azacitidine is effective as a single agent in AML and MDS but does not lead to long term remissions. In the dose-finding part of the AML-AZA study, we analyzed the feasibility of two different doses of azacitidine added to standard 7+3 induction therapy in older patients (≥61 years) with AML. Patients and Methods: Two cohorts with 6 patients each were treated with azacitidine either 37.5 or 75 mg/sqm for 5 days, followed by standard induction chemotherapy 7+3 (cytarabine 100 mg/sqm on days 6–12 and daunorubicin 45 mg/sqm on days 8–10). In patients without blast clearance on day 15, a second cycle of the same induction regime (azacitidine +7+3) was administered. Patients who achieved a complete remission received two cycles of consolidation therapy consisting of 5 days of azacitidine (same dose as for induction therapy) followed by intermediate-dose cytarabine (1g/sqm q12h days 6, 8 and 10). Results: Overall, 2 out of 6 patients at the 37.5 mg/sqm dose level and 4 out of 6 patients at the 75 mg/sqm level achieved a complete remission after induction therapy. Character and number of adverse events were similar to reported data from elderly AML patients treated with intensive chemotherapy. Among the 12 patients, the following 4 serious adverse events occurred: a severe hemolysis (most likely induced by fluorchinolone antibiotics) which resolved, a fatal apoplectic stroke and a fatal hepatorenal syndrome four days after the end of 7+3 chemotherapy at the 37.5 mg/sqm level, and a fatal pneumonia before 7+3 therapy could be initiated at the 75 mg/sqm level. The median duration of grade 4 leukopenia (CTCAE) was 26 days and the median duration of grade 4 thrombopenia was 22 days. Two patients went on for allogenic stem cell transplantation and were censored for survival analysis at the time of transplantation. Median event free survival was not reached after a median follow up of 5.5 months, and median overall survival was 8.1 months after a median follow up of 7 months. Conclusion: Our data indicate that the combination of azacitidine with standard induction therapy is feasible in older patients with AML with a similar tolerability of 37.5 mg/sqm and 75 mg/sqm. As a result, 75 mg/sqm azacitidine was selected as the investigational arm of the currently recruiting randomized phase II study comparing standard chemotherapy in AML with versus without azacitidine (AML-AZA). The study is registered at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT00915252). Disclosures: Off Label Use: use of Azacitidine, a hypomethylating agent, in adjunct to classic chemotherapy in elderly patients with AML. Koschmieder: Novartis: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; BMS: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees.

Description: Abstract 2880 Blinatumomab (MT103) is a single-chain bispecific antibody construct with specificity for CD19 and CD3 belonging to the class of bispecific T cell engager (BiTE®). We have previously reported that blinatumomab delivered as single agent to patients with relapsed NHL and B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia by continuous intravenous (CIV) infusion over 4–8 weeks depleted peripheral B cells, expanded T effector cells, and resulted in clinical responses. In this phase I study 52 patients (41 males, 11 females) have been treated, 21 with FL, 21 with MCL and 10 with other subtypes of lymphoma (MZL, SLL, LPL, CLL). Patients have received a median of 3 prior regimens (range 1 to 12). Ninety percent of the patients had prior exposure to rituximab and 45% to fludarabine. Patients were treated at a dose range from 0.5 to 90 μg/m2/d. The most common adverse events (AEs) occurred early, were transient, reversible and did not require discontinuation of treatment. The most common clinical AEs regardless of causality were pyrexia (75%), headache (45%) and fatigue (37%). The most common laboratory abnormality AEs regardless of causality were lymphopenia (75%), leukopenia (57%), thrombocytopenia (39%), C-reactive protein increase (53%) and fibrin D dimer increase (37%). The medically most important AEs that resulted in permanent discontinuation were CNS events. Signs and symptoms observed included kinetic tremor, speech impairment, disorientation, apraxia and seizure. All CNS events were fully reversible without sequelae and no pathological findings by MRI imaging were reported. Out of the 52 patients treated, 9 had to discontinue treatment permanently in the first cycle due to these CNS events. At a dose of 90 μg/m2/d two DLTs were observed which were CNS events during the DLT period of the first 2 weeks of treatment. Therefore 60μg/m2/d is the currently recommended dose. A low B to T cell ratio (

Description: Background: Sorafenib is a multi-kinase inhibitor with activity against several oncogenic kinases that may play a role in the pathogenesis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). In-vitro data and results from non-randomized clinical trials suggest that sorafenib might be an effective drug for the treatment of AML. We present the results of the randomized placebo-controlled SORAML trial testing sorafenib versus placebo as add-on to standard induction and consolidation treatment in AML patients ≤60 years. Patients and Methods: Between March 2009 and October 2011, 276 patients from 25 centers were enrolled in the SORAML trial (NCT00893373). The main eligibility criteria were newly diagnosed AML, age from 18 to 60 years and suitability for intensive therapy. The treatment plan for all patients included two cycles of induction with DA (daunorubicin 60 mg/m2 days 3-5 plus cytarabine 100 mg/m2 cont. inf. days 1-7), followed by three cycles of high-dose cytarabine consolidation (3 g/m2 b.i.d. days 1, 3, 5). Patients without response after DA I received second induction with HAM (cytarabine 3 g/m2 b.i.d. days 1-3 plus mitoxantrone 10 mg/m2 days 3-5). Allogeneic stem cell transplantation was scheduled for all intermediate-risk patients in first complete remission with a sibling donor and for all high-risk patients with a matched related or unrelated donor. At study inclusion, patients were randomized to receive either sorafenib (800 mg/day) or placebo as add-on to standard treatment in a double blinded fashion. Block randomization at a ratio of 1:1 was performed within cytogenetic and molecular risk strata, allocation was concealed and treatment was double blinded. Study medication was given on days 10-19 of DA I+II or HAM, from day 8 of each consolidation until 3 days before the start of the next consolidation and as maintenance for 12 months after the end of consolidation. The primary endpoint of the trial was event-free survival (EFS) with an event being defined as either failure to achieve a complete remission (CR) after induction, relapse or death. Secondary endpoints were relapse-free survival (RFS), overall survival (OS), CR rate and incidence of adverse events (AE). We present the results of the final analysis of the primary endpoint EFS (intent to treat) after the occurrence of 134 events. Results: Out of 276 enrolled patients, 267 received study treatment, 134 in the sorafenib arm and 133 in the placebo arm. Demographic and disease characteristics were equally distributed between the two arms; the incidence of FLT3-ITD was 17%. The median cumulative dose of administered study medication was similar in both arms. The CR rates were 59% versus 60% in the placebo versus sorafenib arm (p=0.764). After a median observation time of 36 months, the median EFS was 9.2 months in the placebo arm and 20.5 months in the sorafenib arm, corresponding to a 3-year EFS of 22% versus 40% (p=0.013). Median RFS after standard treatment plus placebo was 23 months and not yet reached after sorafenib treatment, corresponding to a 3-year RFS of 38% and 56%, respectively (p=0.017). The median OS had not been reached in either arm; the 3-year OS was 56% with placebo versus 63% with sorafenib (p=0.382). In 46 FLT3-ITD positive patients, no difference in EFS, but a trend for prolonged RFS and OS in favor of sorafenib was observed. The most common reported AEs Grade ≥3 were fever (40%), infections (22%) and bleeding events (2%). The risk for fever, bleeding events and hand-foot syndrome was significantly higher in the sorafenib arm while the incidence of all other AEs showed no significant differences. Conclusions: In younger AML patients, the addition of sorafenib to standard chemotherapy in a sequential manner is feasible and associated with antileukemic efficacy. We observed a higher incidence of infections and bleeding events under sorafenib. Whereas OS in both treatment arms was similar, sorafenib treatment resulted in a significantly prolonged EFS and RFS. Figure 1: Event-free survival Figure 1:. Event-free survival Disclosures Off Label Use: sorafenib for treatment of aml. Serve:Bayer HealthCare: Research Funding. Ehninger:Bayer HealthCare: Research Funding.