Phase 2 Results of APR-246 and Azacitidine (AZA) in Patients with TP53 mutant Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) and Oligoblastic Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)

Introduction: TP53 gene mutations (mTP53), found in up to 20% of MDS or AML pts and 30-40% of therapy-related (TR) MDS/AML cases, represent a distinct molecular cohort with poor outcomes. Hypomethylating agents (HMA) are the standard of care with CR rates of ~20% and median OS of 7-8 months. APR-246 is a novel, first-in-class small molecule that selectively induces apoptosis in mTP53 cancer cells via thermodynamic stabilization of the p53 protein and shifting equilibrium toward the wild-type conformation. We previously reported the Phase 1b results of APR-246+AZA with no DLTs, transcriptional activation of p53 targets and high response rates, identifying a Phase 2 (P2) dose of 4500mg days 1-4 (Sallman et al., ASH 2018). We report herein the planned, completed phase 2 results. Methods: This is a multicenter Phase 1b/2 trial of APR-246+AZA in HMA-naïve mTP53 higher risk MDS, MDS/MPN and oligoblastic AML (≤ 30% blasts) pts (NCT03072043). P2 pts received APR-246 4500mg IV (days 1-4) + AZA 75 mg/m2 SC/IV x 7 days (days 4-10 or 4-5 and 8-12) in 28 day cycles. Primary objective was CR rate by International Working Group (IWG) 2006 criteria. Secondary objectives included ORR, OS, outcome following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (allo-HSCT), and both next generation sequencing (NGS) and p53 immunohistochemistry (IHC) to monitor clonal suppression and remission depth as prognostic covariates. For minimal residual disease (MRD) analysis, a custom target-capture NGS assay was developed using unique molecular Identifiers for error correction with a 0.1% limit of detection. Results: As of July 15, 2019, 55 pts were enrolled (6 P1; 49 P2) with a median age 66 years (34-85; 47% male). By WHO, 40 pts had MDS, 11 AML-MRC and 4 CMML/MDS-MPN; 85% had complex cytogenetics and 33% TR-MDS/AML. All pts had higher risk disease by IPSS-R (7% Intermediate, 24% High, 69% Very High). Fifty pts (91%) had a TP53 missense mutation in the DNA binding domain with multiple mutations in 18 (33%), and median variant allele frequency (VAF) of 25%. In 34 pts (62%), TP53 was the sole mutation. Median time on treatment is 154 days (11-392) with 8 pts ongoing. Eighteen pts (33%; 40% of evaluable pts) discontinued study treatment to proceed to allo-HSCT. Treatment (Tx)-related AEs in ≥ 20% of pts included nausea/vomiting (58%), dizziness (31%), constipation (24%), neuropathy (22%), leukopenia (22%) and thrombocytopenia (20%; all G1/G2 except cytopenias (G3/G4). Tx-related febrile neu