Prof. Agnieszka Wierzbowska: We are witnessing a major breakthrough

What does new medicine offer today for patients with acute myeloid leukemia, but in slightly worse shape, older, with comorbidities, who are not eligible for chemotherapy or transplantation?

Over the past three years, treatment prospects have changed for this group of patients. Until now, it was thought that there was little we could do to help elderly patients who were not eligible for intensive treatment; we were trying to prolong overall survival and improve quality of life. One breakthrough was the introduction of hypomethylating drugs more than 10 years ago. Nevertheless, the most effective treatments still did not lead to satisfactory results. I am referring primarily to the relatively short overall survival time with a median of 7-8 months. A big step was the introduction of venetoclax in combination with azacitidine. This is a relatively universal treatment that has further extended median overall survival. I think we are now witnessing a major breakthrough, because for the treatment of elderly people inel...