The combination of hypomethylating agents with the selective Bcl-2 inhibitor venetoclax (VEN-HMA) as a bridge to allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT) is associated with favorable HCT outcomes.

VEN-HMA could allow more patients of older age to proceed to potentially curative alloHCT.

AlloHCT outcomes are particularly good in patients who undergo HCT in complete remission after VEN-HMA therapy.

The combination of hypomethylating agents with the selective Bcl-2 inhibitor venetoclax (HMA-VEN) has emerged as a highly active regimen in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) in both the upfront and relapsed/refractory (r/r) settings. We report our early experience with a cohort of patients who were able to proceed to allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT) after HMA-VEN therapy. Thirty-two patients with AML (19 r/r and 13 de novo) with a median age of 62 years underwent alloHCT after HMA-VEN therapy. Twenty-two (68.8%) were in complete remission (CR)/CR with incomplete count recovery at time of HCT. With a median follow up of 14.4 months, the 1-year overall survival (OS) was 62.5%, and disease-free survival was 43.8%. The 1-year nonrelapse mortality rate was 18.8%, and the cumulative incidence of relapse was 37.5%. Among patients who underwent alloHCT in CR, the 1-year OS was 77.3%, and the cumulative incidence of nonrelapse mortality was 9.1%. The cumulative incidence of grade II-IV acute graft-versus-host disease was 43.8%. We conclude that alloHCT after HMA-VEN is therapy associated with favorable allogeneic HCT outcomes in newly diagnosed older patients with AML, as well as those with r/r AML.

Acute myelogenous leukemia

Hypomethylating agents

Venetoclax

Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation

© 2020 American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy. Published by Elsevier Inc.