UCLA Health joins nationwide clinical trial for acute myeloid leukemia

UCLA Health has joined an important national clinical trial that uses genetic testing to match people who have acute myeloid leukemia, or AML, with new therapies. UCLA ’s hospital system is the first in California to offer people the opportunity to participate.The Beat AML Master Trial will evaluate a precision-based medicine approach to treating the disease; it will allow people with the disease to have immediate access to new treatments that are currently in development without having to try more traditional approaches first. The approach could streamline a patient ’s course of treatment and, ultimately, save more lives.Acute myeloid leukemia, which affects 20,000 Americans annually, is responsible for more than 10,000 deaths a year, making it the most lethal form of blood cancer.  “The ability to quickly connect patients with investigational drug therapies based on the individual genetic markers of their disease is the essence of precision medicine,” said Dr. Gary Schiller, the principal investigator in the UCLA arm of the trial and a member of theUCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. “We hope that this becomes a turning point in how we treat this disease, which is, in many ways, multiple diseases with multiple mutations involved.”The trial — for people 60 and older who are newly diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia — is sponsored by the Leukemia& Lymphoma Society and is divided into nine treatment arms based on participants ’ genetic profiles. ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news