A Randomized Trial of Procrit vs. No Procrit in AML and High Risk MDS

May 1, 2018 updated by: M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Randomized Study of Procrit vs no Procrit in Patients With Newly Diagnosed Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) or High-risk Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) Undergoing Frontline Myelosuppressive Induction/Consolidation Chemotherapy

The goal of this clinical research study is to find out if Procrit (epoetin alfa) will help decrease the need for blood transfusions in patients who have Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) or High-risk Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) and are receiving chemotherapy. Researchers also want to learn about the remission rates (rates of recovery) in patients with cancer who have received treatment with epoetin alfa. The safety and effectiveness of this therapy will also be studied.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Epoetin alfa is a medication that helps the body make more red blood cells. Researchers want to find out if it will be effective in reducing the need for blood transfusions in patients who have AML or high-risk MDS and are receiving chemotherapy.

If you are found to be eligible to take part in this study, you will be randomly assigned (as in the toss of a coin) to one of 2 treatment groups. Participants in one group will be given epoetin alfa along with blood transfusions, if the doctor thinks it is necessary. Participants in the other group will not receive epoetin alfa. Instead they will only have blood transfusions, which is the standard of care.

No matter what group you are in, you will receive transfusions if your hemoglobin (an element of red blood cells that carries oxygen) drops below a certain level or if the doctor thinks it is necessary. You will be asked to keep a diary listing the dates of all transfusions you receive.

The study doctor will monitor your hemoglobin levels by checking your standard blood tests done by your treating doctor. If your hemoglobin rises above a certain level, treatment with epoetin alfa may be temporarily stopped until your hemoglobin level decreases.

If you are assigned to receive epoetin alfa, you will receive it once a week by subcutaneous (just under the skin) injection during your regularly scheduled chemotherapy. You will receive treatment with epoetin alfa for up to 12 weeks.

If you experience any intolerable side effects or the disease gets worse, you will be taken off this study.

Participants in both groups will continue to receive chemotherapy during this study as regularly scheduled. During chemotherapy (as part of your standard of care), you will have around 1 tablespoon of blood drawn every 1-2 weeks for routine blood tests.

This is an investigational study. Epoetin alfa is FDA approved and commercially available. Up to 54 patients will take part in this study. All will be enrolled at the University of Texas (UT) MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

51

Phase

  • Phase 3

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Texas
      • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
        • The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • ADULT
  • OLDER_ADULT
  • CHILD

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with a diagnosis of AML or high-risk MDS (based on International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS): refractory anemia with excess of blasts (RAEB) or RAEB in transformation [RAEB-t]) receiving frontline induction chemotherapy with any high dose or conventional dose cytarabine-containing regimen or clofarabine-containing regimen at MD Anderson Cancer Center.
  • Patients must be enrolled on the study within two weeks of the start of induction chemotherapy.
  • Patients with documented iron, vitamin B12, or folate deficiency are eligible, but should receive replacement therapy while on study.
  • Understand and voluntarily sign an informed consent form.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with prior treatment with any form of erythropoietin within the previous month.
  • Patients with uncontrolled hypertension (> or =140/90), uncontrolled, clinically significant cardiac arrhythmias, or history of pulmonary embolism or thrombosis within the last 5 years.
  • New onset (within 3 months prior to randomization) or poorly controlled seizures.
  • Patients with known hypersensitivity to the active substance or any of the excipients.
  • Pregnant or lactating women.
  • Acute Erythroleukemia (M6 French-American-British (FAB) classification)
  • Hemoglobin greater than or equal to 10g/dl
  • Patients with head and neck cancer receiving radiation therapy when erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) were given to maintain hemoglobin levels of more than 12 g/dL.
  • Patients with metastatic breast cancer receiving chemotherapy when ESAs were given to maintain hemoglobin levels of more than 12 g/dL.
  • Patients with chronic kidney failure when ESAs were given to maintain hemoglobin levels of more than 12 g/dL.
  • Patients requiring major surgery would be taken off study due to a higher chance of blood clots being reported while taking ESAs.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE
  • Allocation: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: NONE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Procrit Arm
Participants receive Procrit along with blood transfusions. Procrit 40,000 units subcutaneously every week starting within two weeks (before or after) from the start of induction chemotherapy.
Drug: Procrit
40,000 units sq every week starting within two weeks (before or after) from the start of induction chemotherapy.
Other Names:
  • Epogen
  • Epoetin Alfa
NO_INTERVENTION: No Procrit: Standard Arm
Participants do not receive Procrit before receiving blood transfusions.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Median Number of Participant Transfusions Required During 12 Weeks of Treatment
Time Frame: 12 weeks
The number and frequency of packed red blood cells (PRBC) transfusions assessed and compared between two groups, treatment group ("Procrit") and standard care group ("No Procrit"). Participants log all PRBC transfusions. Reported are the number of transfusions in the treatment arm during induction and consolidation chemotherapy with the concomitant use of epoetin alfa during therapy, and in the standard arm those that occured during same 12 week period.
12 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Number of Participants With Complete Remission
Time Frame: After 1 course of therapy, one course is 4 weeks.
International Working Group (IWG) criteria for responses defined as: Complete Remission (CR) - Disappearance of all clinical and/or radiologic evidence of disease. Neutrophil count > 1.0 x 10^9/L and platelet count > 100 x 10^9/L, and normal bone marrow differential (< 5% blasts); Partial remission (PR): as CR except for presence of 5-25% marrow blasts and with a decrease of marrow blast at least 50%.
After 1 course of therapy, one course is 4 weeks.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Collaborators

Centocor, Inc.

Investigators

  • Study Chair: Jorge E. Cortes, M.D., M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

March 1, 2008

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

June 1, 2013

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

June 1, 2013

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 7, 2008

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 7, 2008

First Posted (ESTIMATE)

April 11, 2008

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)

May 30, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 1, 2018

Last Verified

May 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2005-0890

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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