Title:Novel and Emerging Drugs for Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Volume: 12
Issue: 5
Author(s): E. M. Stein and M. S. Tallman
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Acute Myeloid Leukemia, novel drugs, emerging agents
Abstract: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a challenging disease to treat with the majority of patients dying from their
illness. While overall survival has been markedly prolonged in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), survival in younger
adults with other subtypes of AML has only modestly improved over the last twenty years. Physicians who treat AML
eagerly await drugs like Imatinib for chronic myeloid leukemia, Cladribine for hairy cell leukemia, and Rituximab for
non-Hodgkin Lymphoma which have had an important impact on improving outcome. Recent research efforts have
focused on refining traditional chemotherapeutic agents to make them more active in AML, targeting specific genetic
mutations in myeloid leukemia cells, and utilizing novel agents such as Lenalidomide that have shown activity in other
hematologic malignancies. Here, we focus on reviewing the recent literature on agents that may assume a role in clinical
practice for patients with AML over the next five years.
