The ASCERTAIN V clinical trial demonstrated that an all-oral drug combination for older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an effective alternative to the current standard, which requires repeated hospital or office visits for intravenous treatment. In the international phase 1/phase 2 trial led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian, Yale University and MD Anderson Cancer Center, patients took a regimen of two pills, decitabine-cedazuridine and venetoclax, with strong response rates and survival outcomes.
Nearly half of patients (46.5%) achieved complete response, while 63% experienced either complete response or complete response with incomplete hematologic recovery, meaning cancer cells were undetectable, but the patient's healthy blood cell counts had not yet returned to normal. The median overall survival reached 15.5 months—comparable to existing intravenous therapies.
