Photo courtesy of Novartis
Midostaurin (Rydapt) capsules
Health Canada has approved use of the multi-targeted kinase inhibitor midostaurin (Rydapt™).
This makes midostaurin the first targeted therapy approved to treat FLT3-mutated acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in Canada.
Midostaurin is approved for use with standard cytarabine and daunorubicin induction and cytarabine consolidation for the treatment of adults with newly diagnosed FLT3-mutated AML.
Health Canada’s approval of midostaurin is based on results from the phase 3 RATIFY trial, which were published in NEJM in August.
In RATIFY, researchers compared midostaurin plus standard chemotherapy to placebo plus standard chemotherapy in 717 adults younger than age 60 who had FLT3-mutated AML.
The median overall survival was significantly longer in the midostaurin arm than the placebo arm—74.7 months and 25.6 months, respectively (hazard ratio=0.77, P=0.016).
And the median event-free survival was significantly longer in the midostaurin arm than the placebo arm—8.2 months and 3.0 months, respectively (hazard ratio=0.78, P=0.004).
The most frequent adverse events (AEs) in the midostaurin arm (occurring in at least 20% of patients) were febrile neutropenia, nausea, vomiting, mucositis, headache, musculoskeletal pain, petechiae, device-related infection, epistaxis, hyperglycemia, and upper respiratory tract infection.
The most frequent grade 3/4 AEs (occurring in at least 10% of patients) were febrile neutropenia, device-related infection, and mucositis.
Nine percent of patients in the midostaurin arm stopped treatment due to AEs, as did 6% in the placebo arm.
