Venclexta (Venetoclax) for Leukemia

Overview
Venclexta is a prescription medication approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat adults with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL). Venclexta is also indicated for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in people 75 or older for whom other treatments are not appropriate. Venclexta may also be referred to by its drug name, venetoclax.

Venclexta is the first drug in a class called BCL-2 inhibitors. Healthy cells naturally self-destruct when they become abnormal or grow old. Some cancer cells are able to resist the natural self-destruction process and keep growing. Venclexta is believed to work by blocking a protein that allows cancer cells to resist self-destruction, leading to cell death.

How do I take it?
Venclexta is taken orally once a day.

Venclexta comes in the form of a tablet.

Side effects
The FDA-approved label for Venclexta lists common side effects including fatigue, cough, cold and flu symptoms, nausea, diarrhea, pain in the muscles, bones, or joints, edema (swelling), and low blood cell counts.

Rare but serious side effects listed for Venclexta include fetal harm in pregnant women and tumor lysis syndrome – a potentially fatal metabolic condition caused when many cancer cells die at the same time. Additionally, live attenuated vaccines should not be administered while on Venclexta due to increased risk of adverse effects.

For more details about this treatment, visit:

Venclexta — AbbVie/Genentech
https://www.venclexta.com