Dr Ibrahim Aldoss on the Need for Targeted Therapy for KMT2Ar Acute Leukemias

Ibrahim T. Aldoss, MD, a hematologist/oncologist at City of Hope National Medical Center, discusses the potential of oral menin inhibitor revumenib in KMT2A-rearranged (KMT2Ar) acute leukemias, with pivotal phase 2 results from the AUGMENT-01 trial presented at the 65th Annual American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition this week.

Promising pivotal results from an interim efficacy analysis showed a composite complete response rate of 43.9% (95% CI, 30.7-57.6) and an overall response rate of 63.2% (95% CI, 49.3-75.6).

Transcript

Can you speak to the need for targeted therapies to treat relapsed/refractory KMT2A-rearranged acute leukemia?

In previous studies for patients with similar characteristics to these patients who were receiving their second or beyond salvage therapy, the overall response rate for these relapsed refractory patients with KMT2A was lower than 10%, and the median overall survival was below 3 months. It's truly an area with unmet therapeutic need, where we need some targeted therapy that improves outcomes for these patients, because current standard treatments are ineffective at improving the outcomes of these patients. So, we're very excited about the results of revumenib in this difficult-to-treat population: heavily pretreated patients where we show the majority are responding, the responses are durable and deep, and we're able to transition these patients to transplant.

What sets revumenib apart from current standard treatments in this setting, and might it be integrated into practice if it is approved?

Revumenib is different than the current standard of therapy in this disease as the current standard therapy is only chemotherapy, and we know from previous studies it is highly ineffective in inducing remission. They're more toxic, and for patients who achieve remission, the duration of remission is very short. Revumenib is a targeted therapy based on preclinical studies. We're targeting what drives the leukemia in this kind of disease. So, with being effective and safe, the idea is how we can combine it with what we consider standard of care in the relapsed or refractory setting as well as newly diagnosed patients, with more interest early in the treatment paradigm of these patients, so we can improve the outcomes of those patients.

Reference

Caffrey M. Pivotal results show revumenib holds promise for patients with KMT2Ar acute leukemia. AJMC. December 12, 2023. Accessed December 12, 2023. https://www.ajmc.com/view/pivotal-results-show-revumenib-holds-promise-for-patients-with-kmt2ar-acute-leukemia