Eltanexor and Venetoclax in Relapsed or Refractory Myelodysplastic Syndrome and Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Phase Ib Study of Eltanexor and Venetoclax in Relapsed or Refractory Myelodysplastic Syndrome and Acute Myeloid Leukemia

This phase I trial tests the safety, side effects, and best dose of eltanexor in combination with venetoclax for the treatment of patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) or acute myeloid leukemia (AML) that has come back after a period of improvement (relapsed) or that has not responded to previous treatment (refractory). Eltanexor works by trapping "tumor suppressing proteins" within the cell, thus causing the cancer cells to die or stop growing. Venetoclax is in a class of medications called B-cell lymphoma-2 (BCL-2) inhibitors. It may stop the growth of cancer cells by blocking Bcl-2, a protein needed for cancer cell survival. Giving eltanexor together with venetoclax may be safe, tolerable and/or effective in treating patients with relapsed or refractory MDS or AML.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Recurrent Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Refractory Myelodysplastic Syndrome; Relapsed Myelodysplastic Syndrome
• Intervention / Treatment: Procedure: Biospecimen Collection; Procedure: Bone Marrow Aspiration and Biopsy; Drug: Eltanexor; Drug: Venetoclax

Detailed Description

Primary objective:

• To establish the safe and biologically effective dose (BED) of eltanexor in combination with venetoclax in patients with R/R MDS and/or AML

Secondary objectives:

• To estimate the complete remission (CR) rate with eltanexor and venetoclax in patients with R/R MDS and/or AML
• To assess the overall response rate (ORR) following treatment with eltanexor/venetoclax
• To assess the overall survival of patients
• To assess the progression free survival (PFS) and duration of response (DOR) in patients treated with eltanexor/venetoclax

Exploratory objectives:

• To assess differential response between MDS and AML cohorts
• To develop and evaluate a phenotypic flow-based assay to predict response to eltanexor/venetoclax
• To assess the effect of mutational changes on response to eltanexor/venetoclax
• To measure the rates of measurable residual disease with eltanexor/venetoclax

OUTLINE: This is a dose-escalation study of eltanexor in combination with venetoclax.

Patients receive eltanexor orally (PO) once per day (QD) for 5 days per week for 14, 21, or 28 days every cycle, and venetoclax PO QD on days 1-14 of each cycle. Cycles repeat every 28 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients undergo bone marrow aspiration and biopsy and blood sample collection throughout the study.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up every 3 months for up to 24 months.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 60
• Phase: Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Vanderbilt-Ingram Services for Timely Access; Phone Number: 800-811-8480; Email: cip@vumc.org

Study Locations

• United States
  • Tennessee
    • Memphis, Tennessee, United States, 38138
      • Recruiting
      • Baptist Health Care Corporation
      • Contact: Salil Goorha; Email: salil.goorha@bmhcc.org
    • Nashville, Tennessee, United States, 37203
      • Recruiting
      • Vanderbilt University/Ingram Cancer Center
      • Contact: Vanderbilt-Ingram Service Services for Timely Access; Phone Number: 800-811-8480; Email: cip@vumc.org
      • Principal Investigator: Somedeb Ball, MD

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

- Age >/= 18 years at the time of signing the Informed Consent Form (ICF); must voluntarily sign an ICF; and must be able to meet all study requirements.

For Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS):

Morphologically confirmed diagnosis of MDS with increased blasts (>/= 5%), with a prior DNA methyltransferase inhibitor (DNMTi) treatment and progression after 2 cycles or stable disease after 4 cycles

For Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML):

Morphologically confirmed diagnosis of AML in accordance with WHO diagnostic criteria that is relapsed or refractory following >/= 1 line(s) of therapy.

• WBC must be less than 25,000/ul prior to study start (hydroxyurea allowed).
• A bone marrow aspirate must be performed, and tissue collected for entrance to the trial unless circulating blasts >/= 5% in which case, peripheral blood can be used.
• Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status of 0 - 2.
• Must have adequate hepatic and renal function as demonstrated by the following:

ALT(SGPT) and/or AST (SGOT) </= 3x upper limit of normal (ULN); Direct bilirubin </= 1.5 x ULN; or Total bilirubin </= 2.5x ULN (known Gilbert's Syndrome as cause of elevated bilirubin is allowed); Calculated creatinine clearance > 50 ml/min (per the Cockroft-Gault formula).

- Willingness to abide by all study requirements, including contraception, maintenance of a pill diary, and acceptance of recommended supportive care medications.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Anticancer therapy, including investigational agents </= 2 weeks or </= 5 half-lives of the drug, whichever is shorter, prior to C1D1. (Use of hydroxyurea is permitted).
• Inadequate recovery from toxicity attributed to prior anti-cancer therapy to </= Grade 1 (NCI CTCAE v5.0), excluding alopecia or fatigue.
• Prior treatment with SINE compounds or other inhibitors of XPO1.
• History of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HCT), or other cellular therapy product, within 3 months.
• Active acute or chronic GVHD requiring calcineurin inhibitors or steroid dosing >/= 10mg/day or patients within 4 weeks of stopping calcineurin inhibitors for GVHD.
• Radiation therapy or major surgery within 3 weeks.
• Active, uncontrolled infection. Patients with infection under active treatment and controlled with antibiotics are eligible. Prophylaxis, even if parenteral, is acceptable.
• Inability to swallow oral medications.
• Active documented central nervous system leukemia.
• Second active malignancy within past 2 years except for basal or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, ductal carcinoma of breast in situ or cervical carcinoma in situ.
• Women of childbearing age or potential must have negative pregnancy test and must not be actively breastfeeding to enroll on the study
• Clinically significant cardiovascular disease with major event or cardiac intervention within the past 6 months (e.g. percutaneous intervention, coronary artery bypass graft, documented cardiac heart failure) as determined by the investigator.
• Any condition not listed but deemed by the investigator to make the patient a poor candidate for clinical trial and/or treatment with investigational agents.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Eltanexor + Venetoclax; Participants receive eltanexor PO QD for 5 days per week for 14, 21, or 28 days every cycle, and venetoclax PO QD on days 1-14 of each cycle. Cycles repeat every 28 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Participants undergo bone marrow aspiration and biopsy and blood sample collection throughout the study.	Procedure: Biospecimen Collection; Undergo blood sample collection; Procedure: Bone Marrow Aspiration and Biopsy; Undergo bone marrow aspiration and biopsy; Drug: Eltanexor; Eltanexor will be taken by mouth; Other Names: KPT-8602; Drug: Venetoclax; Venetoclax will be taken by mouth

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Incidence of adverse events	Adverse medical events will be tabulated and graded according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version 5.	Up to 2 years
Biologically effective dose (BED) of eltanexor in combination with venetoclax	Measured by complete remission	Up to 2 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Complete remission	By 95% (e.g. based on standard Gaussian methods or bootstrap methods, as appropriate) confidence intervals.	Up to 2 years
Overall response rate	By 95% (e.g. based on standard Gaussian methods or bootstrap methods, as appropriate) confidence intervals.	Up to 2 years
Progression free survival	Will be estimated using the method of Kaplan and Meier accompanied by 95% (e.g. based on standard Gaussian methods or bootstrap methods, as appropriate) confidence intervals.	Up to 2 years
Overall survival	Will be estimated using the method of Kaplan and Meier accompanied by 95% (e.g. based on standard Gaussian methods or bootstrap methods, as appropriate) confidence intervals.	From date on study to death for any reason, up to 2 years
Duration of response	Will be estimated using the method of Kaplan and Meier accompanied by 95% (e.g. based on standard Gaussian methods or bootstrap methods, as appropriate) confidence intervals.	From the date of first objective response until disease progression or death for any reason up to 2 years

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
• Collaborators: National Cancer Institute (NCI); Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Somedeb Ball, MD, Vanderbilt University/Ingram Cancer Center

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Ball S, Awan FT, Tomlinson BK, Stopczynski T, Fischer MA, Zhao Z, Fedorov K, Kishtagari A, Mohan SR, Ayers GD, Byrne MT, Savona MR. Selinexor and Venetoclax Combination in Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Am J Hematol. 2026 May;101(5):1019-1024. doi: 10.1002/ajh.70266. Epub 2026 Mar 8.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 14, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): February 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): October 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 30, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 30, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): May 6, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 24, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 19, 2026
• Last Verified: June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neoplasms; Neoplasms by Histologic Type; Hematologic Diseases; Leukemia, Myeloid; Bone Marrow Diseases; Leukemia; Hemic and Lymphatic Diseases; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute; Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Investigative Techniques; Specimen Handling; Clinical Laboratory Techniques; Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures; Diagnosis; Surgical Procedures, Operative; Cytological Techniques; Cytodiagnosis; Diagnostic Techniques, Surgical; Biopsy; venetoclax; Eltanexor
• Other Study ID Numbers: VICC-VCHEM23008P; NCI-2024-03343 (Registry Identifier: NCI, Clinical Trials Reporting Program); 1R01CA262287-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: Yes
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No