HOUSTON—The farnesyl transferase inhibitor R115777 (tipifarnib, also known as Zarnestra) produced an overall response rate of 33% in patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) and decreased splenomegaly in most patients with myelofibrosis, but was not effective in multiple myeloma, reported Deborah Thomas, MD, at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology. Dr. Thomas is assistant professor in the Department of Leukemia at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
Dr. Thomas reported data on 36 patients treated with R115777. This included 21 patients with CML (10 in chronic phase, 5 in accelerated phase, 6 in blast phase), 10 patients with multiple myeloma, and 5 patients with myelofibrosis. All patients with accelerated or blast phase CML had previously received imatinib(Drug information on imatinib) mesylate (Gleevec, also known as STI571), as had four of the patients with chronic phase CML.
For patients with CML, the median age was 54 years, the median time from diagnosis was 20 months, and the median number of prior therapies was 3 (range: 2 to 5). Three of 13 patients for whom ras mutation results are available had mutations of N-ras (n = 1) or K-ras (n = 2).
Patients received oral R115777, 600 mg bid for 28 days every 6 weeks. The doses were adjusted for myelosuppression and/or nonhematologic toxicity.
Response Data
Dr. Thomas said that six CML patients in chronic phase had a complete (n = 5) or partial (n = 1) hematologic response. Three of the patients with chronic phase CML achieved a minor cytogenetic response. One patient in accelerated phase (clonal evolution) had a complete hematologic response and minor cytogenetic response. None of the six patients in blast phase responded.
Eight patients with myelofibrosis were treated after a median time from diagnosis of 18 months (range: 11-32). They had received a median of 3 prior therapies (range: 1-5). Six of eight had a reduction in spleen size (more than 50% in two patients), from a median of 13 cm below costal margin to a median of 9 cm. One patient had hepatomegaly and had a modest reduction (15 to 12 cm). One patient was taken off study after 2 months because of skin toxicity, and one transformed to acute myelogenous leukemia 6 weeks after the start of therapy.
