What is Venclexta?
Venclexta is an oral, targeted cancer treatment that may be used to treat:
chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) in adults
newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in adults aged 75 years or older, or who have other conditions that prevent the use of intensive chemotherapy. It is used in combination with azacitidine, decitabine, or low-dose cytarabine.
How does Venclexta work?
Venclexta works by blocking a protein called BCL-2. This protein helps determine whether cells live or die. It’s called an anti-apoptotic protein because it blocks apoptosis. Apoptosis is a process that causes cell death and is used by the body to get rid of unnecessary or abnormal cells. Venclexta binds directly to BCL-2, displacing other proteins and activating apoptosis.
CLL, SLL, and AML cancer cells overexpress BCL-2, which is to say they have more of it than normal cells do. This makes these types of blood cancer cells resistant to chemotherapy but vulnerable to Venclexta. By blocking BCL-2, these cells will now die. Venclexta is called a BCL-2 inhibitor.
Warnings
Venclexta can cause serious side effects, such as tumor lysis syndrome (TLS), low white blood cell counts, and infections (see Venclexta side effects above). Call your doctor at once if you have a fever, chills, joint or muscle pain, tiredness, confusion, shortness of breath, fast or slow heartbeats, nausea, vomiting, dark or cloudy urine, or a seizure (convulsions).
You should not receive live attenuated vaccines (such as MMR, chickenpox, Monkeypox) before, during, or after treatment with Venclexta until your B-cells have made a full recovery.
May cause harm to an unborn child. Females of reproductive potential should use effective contraception.
People with multiple myeloma being treated with Venclexta in combination with bortezomib plus dexamethasone should only be done inside a controlled clinical trial.
Tell your doctor about all your current medicines and any you start or stop using. Many drugs can interact, and some drugs should not be used together.
