Why is it so difficult to use gemtuzumab ozogamicin?

Abstract

In this issue of Blood, Petersdorf et al report negative results of the phase 3 study designed by the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG), which tested the addition of gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO) to a 317 regimen in a randomized fashion in adult patients newly diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who are younger than 60 years. Also in this issue of Blood, Rowe and Löwenberg discuss results of this study in the context of 4 other controlled studies (1 negative and 1 positive in a predefined subset of patients, and 2 positive) performed during the same period in Europe.