Safety and pharmacokinetics of quizartinib in Japanese patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia in a phase 1 study

Expanded therapeutic options are warranted for patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who have FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3-internal tandem duplication (FLT3-ITD) mutations. The present phase 1, multicenter, open-label, dose-escalation and dose-expansion study was conducted to assess the safety, pharmacokinetics, and efficacy of multiple-dose monotherapy of the FLT3 inhibitor, quizartinib, in Japanese patients with R/R AML. Patients received oral quizartinib, once daily, under fasting conditions in 28-day cycles. Sixteen patients (median age, 68.0 years; male, 56.3%; FLT3-ITD positive, 43.8%) received quizartinib (9, 3, and 4 patients at 20, 30, and 60 mg/day, respectively; median treatment duration, 95.0 days; median relative dose intensity, 100.0%). No dose-limiting toxicities were observed. The most common treatment-emergent adverse events were electrocardiogram QT prolonged (43.8%, grade 1 or 2) followed by nausea and pyrexia (37.5% each). No quizartinib-related deaths were reported. A dose-dependent increase of quizartinib and its active metabolite AC886 levels was observed at the steady state. The composite complete remission rate was 37.5%. Quizartinib was well tolerated in Japanese R/R AML patients at doses up to 60 mg/day; quizartinib 60 mg/day was considered as the recommended dose for the Japanese patient population in a subsequent study. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT02675478.