Aaron T. Gerds, MD, MS

Aaron T. Gerds, MD, MS, Assistant Professor of Hematology and Oncology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio, served as a press briefing moderator at the 2023 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition. He was enthusiastic about the potential for an all-oral AAA (arsenic trioxide, all-trans retinoic acid, and ascorbic acid) regimen for acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL).

Dr. Gerds explained to journalists that in the United States, all-trans retinoic acid is an oral treatment, but the arsenic component in the APL regimen is intravenous (IV), “and it’s a real pain to give,” he noted. “It’s given intravenously for 5 days a week for 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off, for the 6-month consolidation treatment. These patients are driving to the cancer center—sometimes 1 to 2 hours away—to get their ECG (because there is cardiotoxicity), to get their labs drawn, to get the infusion, and then go home and do it again the next day. You can see how an all-oral regimen with less cardiotoxicity could be revolutionary, especially for patients in remote areas.”

Although the researchers pointed out that the all-oral regimen would also cost less than standard treatment, Dr. Gerdes further commented: “It’s not just an affordability issue. It’s a patient quality-of-life issue, a delivery-of-care issue. An all-oral AAA regimen works on so many levels.” 

DISCLOSURE: Dr. Gerds reported financial relationships (including research funding) with Accurate Pharmaceuticals, AbbVie, Bristol Myers Squibb, Constellation Pharmaceuticals, CTI BioPharma, GSK, Imago BioSciences, Incyte, Kratos Pharma, Novartis, PharmaEssentia, and Sierra Oncology.