Daunorubicin, Cytarabine, and Midostaurin in Treating Patients With Newly Diagnosed Acute Myeloid Leukemia

In this study, patients will receive either the experimental agent (midostaurin) or placebo combined with chemotherapy treatment. Patients are stratified according to FLT3 mutation status (internal tandem duplication \[ITD\] allelic ratio \< 0.7 vs ITD allelic ratio ≥ 0.7 vs tandem kinase domain \[TKD\]). There are three parts to the study treatment: remission induction therapy, remission consolidation therapy and continuation therapy. Remission Induction Therapy: * Cytarabine 200 mg/m2/day by continuous intravenous infusion on days 1-7 * Daunorubicin 60 mg/m2/day by intravenous push or short infusion on days 1-3 * Midostaurin 50 mg (two 25 mg capsules) or placebo for midostaurin (2 capsules) twice a day by mouth on days 8-21 * A bone marrow aspiration will be performed in all patients on Day 21 to determine the need for a second induction cycle. Remission Consolidation (Four Remission Consolidation Cycles): * High dose cytarabine 3000 mg/m2 will be given by intravenous infusion over 3 hours every 12 hours on days 1, 3 and 5. Serial neurologic evaluation will be performed before and following the infusion of high-dose cytarabine. * Dexamethasone 0.1% or other corticosteroid ophthalmic solution 2 drops to each eye once daily to begin 6-12 hours prior to the initiation of the cytarabine infusion and to continue for at least 24 hours after the last cytarabine dose. * Midostaurin 50 mg (two 25 mg capsules) or placebo for midostaurin (2 capsules) twice a day by mouth on days 8-21 Midostaurin/Placebo Continuation Therapy: * Midostaurin 50 mg (two 25 mg capsules) or placebo for midostaurin (2 capsules) by mouth twice a day for 28 days. Each cycle will be 28 days in length. Continuation therapy with midostaurin/placebo will continue until relapse or for 12 cycles maximum. The primary and secondary objectives of this study are: Primary objective: * To determine if the addition of midostaurin to daunorubicin/cytarabine induction, high-dose cytarabine consolidation, and continuation therapy improves overall survival (OS) in both the mutant FLT3-ITD and FLT3-TKD AML patients Secondary objectives: * To compare the overall survival (OS) in the two groups using an analysis in which patients who receive a stem cell transplant are censored at the time of transplant * To compare the complete response (CR) rate between the two treatment groups * To compare the event-free survival (EFS) between the two treatment groups * To compare the disease free survival (DFS) of the two treatment groups * To compare the disease free survival rate one year after completion of the continuation phase of the two groups * To assess the toxicity of the experimental combination * To describe the interaction between treatment outcome and pretreatment characteristics such as age, performance status, white blood cell (WBC) count, morphology, cytogenetics, and molecular and pharmacodynamic features * To assess the population pharmacokinetics (popPK) of midostaurin and its two major metabolites (CGP52421 and CGP62221). The potential association(s) between PK exposure and FLT3 status, OS, EFS and clinical response will be explored There is a pharmacokinetic sub-study (CALGB 60706) within CALGB 10603. This embedded companion study must be offered to all patients enrolled on CALGB 10603, although patients may opt not to participate in CALGB 60706. After study entry, patients are followed periodically for up to 10 years.