Relapsed and refractory hematologic malignancies have poor responses to standard therapy and are associated with a poor prognosis. For example, relapsed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a highly aggressive and resistant disease, particularly when associated with first complete response (CR) duration of less than 12 months. Thus, there is an urgent need for new agents in relapsed and refractory hematologic malignancies such as acute leukemia. In elderly patients, where the tolerance of aggressive induction therapy is often poor and curative options such as bone marrow transplantation HSCT are not available, the need for effective non-aggressive drug regimens for AML is even greater.
Tigecycline is a glycylcycline derivative of tetracycline. Tigecycline is currently indicated for the treatment of complicated skin and skin structure infections, and complicated intra-abdominal infections. This clinical trial is a Phase I dose escalation study of tigecycline in patients with relapsed or refractory AML or those with newly diagnosed disease not eligible for induction chemotherapy.
