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RecruitingNCT04708054Updated Aug 11, 2026

Venetoclax to Improve Outcomes of Fractionated Busulfan Regimen in Patients With High-Risk AML and MDS

A Phase 2/3 interventional study of Busulfan and Cladribine in Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia and Myelodysplastic Syndrome, sponsored by M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 70 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-08-11.

Sponsored by M.D. Anderson Cancer Center · Phase 2/3, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Oct 2021; still recruiting 4 years 11 months later.
Phase
Phase 2/3
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
324
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years to 70 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This phase II trial studies the effect of venetoclax together with busulfan, cladribine, and fludarabine in treating patients with high-risk acute myeloid leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome who are undergoing stem cell transplant. Chemotherapy drugs, such as venetoclax, busulfan, cladribine, and fludarabine, work in different ways to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells, by stopping them from dividing, or by stopping them from spreading. Adding venetoclax to the current standard of care stem cell transplant regimen of busulfan, fludarabine, and cladribine may help to control high-risk acute myeloid leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome.

Read the detailed description

Phase 2 Portion

Primary Objective 1) To obtain preliminary evidence of efficacy as defined by 1-year progression free survival.

Secondary Objectives

To determine:

  1. Safety of this regimen as per NCI toxicity criteria
  2. Time to neutrophil and platelet engraftment
  3. Incidence of acute and chronic GVHD
  4. Relapse incidence
  5. Non-relapse mortality
  6. Overall survival
  7. Graft versus host disease-relapse free survival (GRFS)

Phase 3 Portion

Primary Objective

1) To compare progression free survival between two arms Arm 1 Standard of Care: fludarabine + IV busulfan (FluBu) versus Arm 2 Experimental: Venetoclax + Fractionated busulfan, cladribine, and fludarabine

Secondary Objectives To compare following between two arms

  1. Safety of this regimen as per NCI toxicity criteria
  2. Time to neutrophil and platelet engraftment
  3. Incidence of acute and chronic GVHD
  4. Relapse incidence
  5. Non-relapse mortality
  6. Overall survival
  7. Graft versus host disease-relapse free survival (GRFS)
02

Conditions studied

  • Acute Myeloid Leukemia
  • Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia
  • Myelodysplastic Syndrome
03

In context

Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute

2,971 studies on the registry are indexed under Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute; 745 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 324 is above the median of 41 across 2,509 interventional studies indexed under Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute.

Browse Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute studies →

Lead sponsor

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is the lead sponsor of 2,999 studies on the registry; 581 are open to participants now.

Of its 599 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 402 (67%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 70 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

Phase II

  1. Age ≥ 18 and ≤ 70 years. English and non-English speaking patients are eligible.
  2. Patients with acute myeloid leukemia who have previously received induction therapy and one of the following high-risk features:

    1. ELN17 adverse risk prognostic group irrespective of remission status (see Appendix 2)
    2. Measurable residual disease positive (MRD +)
    3. Not in complete remission including complete remission without count recovery (Cri) and/or morphologic leukemia free state (MLFS), primary refractory, or relapsed disease. See Appendix 3 for details.
    4. AML secondary to MDS or MPD
    5. Therapy-related AML.
    6. Not in complete remission after one course of induction therapy

    Or

    Patients with myelodysplastic syndrome or CMML and one of the following high-risk features:

    1. Poor or Very poor cytogenetic risk group as per IPSS-R
    2. Mutated P53 or Ras pathway genes (CBL, NRAS, KRAS, NF1, PTPN1) or DNMT 3a or ASXL1 or RUNX1
    3. Maximum IPSS-R >3.5 between diagnosis and the start of the preparative regimen.
    4. ≥ 5% BM blasts at transplant
    5. Therapy-related MDS
  3. HLA-identical sibling or a minimum of 7/8 matched unrelated donor, or a haploidentical related donor available
  4. Subject must voluntarily sign an informed consent
  5. Female subjects of childbearing potential must have negative results for pregnancy test
  6. Adequate hepatic and renal function per local laboratory reference range as follows:

    • Aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) \< 3.0X ULN
    • Bilirubin \<1.5 x ULN (unless bilirubin rise is due to Gilbert's syndrome or of non-hepatic origin)
    • Subject must have adequate renal function as demonstrated by a creatinine clearance ≥ 50 mL/min; calculated by the Cockcroft Gault formula or measured by 24 hours urine collection.

Phase III

  1. Age ≥ 18 and ≤ 65 years. English and non-English speaking patients are eligible.
  2. Patients with acute myeloid leukemia who have previously received induction therapy and one of the following high-risk features:

    1. ELN22 adverse risk prognostic group irrespective of remission status (see Appendix
    2. Measurable residual disease positive (MRD +) including MRD + any time after induction therapy.
    3. Not in complete remission including complete remission without count recovery (Cri) and/or morphologic leukemia free state (MLFS), primary refractory, or relapsed disease. See Appendix 4 for details.
    4. AML secondary to MDS or MPD
    5. Therapy-related AML.
    6. Not in complete remission after one course of induction therapy
    7. Second or higher complete remission

    Or

    Patients with myelodysplastic syndrome and one of the following high-risk features:

    1. Poor or Very poor cytogenetic risk group as per IPSS-R
    2. Mutated P53 or Ras pathway genes (CBL, NRAS, KRAS, NF1, PTPN11) or ASXL1 or RUNX1 or moderate high, or high, or very high-risk group as per IPSS-M
    3. Maximum IPSS-R >3.5 between diagnosis and the start of the preparative regimen.
    4. ≥ 5% BM blasts at transplant
    5. Therapy-related MDS

    Or

    Patients with CMML

  3. HLA-identical sibling or a minimum of 7/8 matched unrelated donor
  4. Subject must voluntarily sign an informed consent
  5. Female subjects of childbearing potential must have negative results for pregnancy test
  6. Adequate hepatic and renal function per local laboratory reference range as follows:

    • Aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) \< 3.0X ULN
    • Bilirubin \<1.5 x ULN (unless bilirubin rise is due to Gilbert's syndrome or of non-hepatic origin)
    • Subject must have adequate renal function as demonstrated by a creatinine clearance ≥ 50 mL/min; calculated by the Cockcroft Gault formula or measured by 24 hours urine collection.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria:

  1. Subject is known to be positive for HIV.
  2. Subject has cognitive impairments and/or is a prisoner.
  3. Subject has acute promyelocytic leukemia
  4. Subject has known active CNS involvement with AML.
  5. Evidence of other clinically significant uncontrolled condition(s) including, but not limited to:

    1. Uncontrolled and/or active systemic infection (viral, bacterial or fungal)
    2. Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C (HCV) requiring treatment. Note: subjects with serologic evidence of prior vaccination to HBV (i.e. hepatitis B surface (HBs) antigen negative-, anti-HBs antibody positive and anti-hepatitis B core (HBc) antibody negative) or positive anti-HBc antibody from intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG) may participate.
  6. Cardiac history of CHF requiring treatment or Ejection Fraction \< 50% or unstable angina;
  7. Corrected DLCO \< 50% or FEV1 \<65%.
  8. Administration or consumption of any of the following within 3 days prior to the first dose of study drug:

    • grapefruit or grapefruit products
    • Seville oranges (including marmalade containing Seville oranges)
    • star fruit
  9. Patients with cognitive impairments and/or any serious unstable pre-existing medical condition or psychiatric disorder that can interfere with safety or with obtaining informed consent or compliance with study procedures.
  10. Prior allogeneic stem cell transplantation.
05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2 / Phase 3
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
324 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Treatment (venetoclax, busulfan, fludarabine, cladribine)

    Patients receive venetoclax PO QD on days -22 to -3, busulfan IV over 3 hours on days -20, -13, -6, -5, -4, and -3, and fludarabine phosphate IV over 1 hour and cladribine IV over 2 hours on days -6 to -3 in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients then undergo stem cell transplantation over 1-2 hours on day 0.

    Drug: Busulfan · Drug: Cladribine · Drug: Fludarabine Phosphate · Procedure: Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation · Drug: Thiotepa · Drug: Venetoclax

Interventions

  • DrugBusulfan

    Given IV

    Also known as: 1, 4-Bis[methanesulfonoxy]butane, BUS, Bussulfam, Busulfanum, Busulfex, Busulphan, CB 2041, CB-2041, Glyzophrol, GT 41, GT-41, Joacamine, Methanesulfonic Acid Tetramethylene Ester, Methanesulfonic acid, tetramethylene ester, Mielucin, Misulban, Misulfan, Mitosan, Myeleukon, Myeloleukon, Myelosan, Mylecytan, Myleran, Sulfabutin, Tetramethylene Bis(methanesulfonate), Tetramethylene bis[methanesulfonate], WR-19508

  • DrugCladribine

    Given IV

    Also known as: 2-CdA, 2CDA, CdA, Cladribina, Leustat, Leustatin, Leustatine, RWJ-26251

  • DrugFludarabine Phosphate

    Given IV

    Also known as: 2-F-ara-AMP, 9H-Purin-6-amine, 2-fluoro-9-(5-O-phosphono-.beta.-D-arabinofuranosyl)-, Beneflur, Fludara, SH T 586

  • ProcedureHematopoietic Cell Transplantation

    Undergo stem cell transplantation

    Also known as: HCT, Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation, HSCT, Stem Cell Transplant, stem cell transplantation

  • DrugThiotepa

    Given IV

    Also known as: 1,1'',1''''-Phosphinothioylidynetrisaziridine, Girostan, N,N'', N''''-Triethylenethiophosphoramide, Oncotiotepa, STEPA, Tepadina, TESPA, Tespamin, Tespamine, Thio-Tepa, Thiofosfamide, Thiofozil, Thiophosphamide, Thiophosphoramide, Thiotef, Tifosyl, TIO TEF, Tio-tef, Triethylene Thiophosphoramide, Triethylenethiophosphoramide, Tris(1-aziridinyl)phosphine sulfide, TSPA, WR 45312

  • DrugVenetoclax

    Given PO

    Also known as: ABT-0199, ABT-199, ABT199, GDC-0199, RG7601, Venclexta, Venclyxto

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. 1-year progression free survival (PFS)

    The proportion of patients who are alive without disease relapse (PFS) at one year will be reported along with the corresponding 95% credible interval. Cox proportional hazards regression will be used to assess the association between PFS and clinical and treatment covariates of interest.

    Time frame: At 1 year post-transplant

Secondary outcomes

  1. Overall survival (OS)

    OS will be calculated from the time of transplant by the method of Kaplan and Meier.

    Time frame: Up to 3 years post-transplant

  2. Graft-versus (vs.)-host disease-free, relapse-free survival (GRFS)

    GRFS will be calculated from the time of transplant by the method of Kaplan and Meier.

    Time frame: Up to 3 years post-transplant

  3. Time to platelet engraftment

    The time to platelet engraftment will be calculated from the time of transplant and estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method.

    Time frame: From the time of transplant up to 3 years

  4. Time to neutrophil engraftment

    The time to neutrophil engraftment will be calculated from the time of transplant and estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method.

    Time frame: From the time of transplant up to 3 years

  5. Incidence of acute and chronic graft-vs.-host disease (GvHD)

    The cumulative incidence of acute and chronic GvHD with the competing risks of relapse and death will be estimated using the method of Gooley, and the method of Fine and Gray will be used to model the association between both parameters and clinical and treatment characteristics of interest.

    Time frame: Up to 3 years post-transplant

  6. Incidence of relapse and non-relapse mortality

    The cumulative incidence of non-relapse mortality and relapse will also be assessed in a competing risks framework, with similar analyses performed.

    Time frame: Up to 3 years post-transplant

  7. Incidence of adverse events

    Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize adverse events. The number and proportion of subjects with treatment emergent adverse events will be reported. All other safety parameters will be summarized using descriptive statistics or frequency counts. Graphical summaries will be used where appropriate.

    Time frame: Up to 3 years post-transplant

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • M D Anderson Cancer Center
    Houston, Texas 77030, United States
    Recruiting
08

References and documents

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Aug 11, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04708054
Lead sponsor
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jan 13, 2021
Start date
Oct 21, 2021
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2027 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 31, 2027 (estimated)
Last update
Aug 11, 2026

Study contacts

Uday R. Popat
Contact
upopat@mdanderson.org
713-745-3055
Uday R Popat
principal investigator · M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
Yes
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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