New drug aims to wipe out hidden leukemia cells before they return

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: * Patients with B-lineage acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) in hematologic complete remission (CR) with molecular failure (i.e., had never achieved an MRD-negativity status before blinatumomab) or had a molecular relapse (i.e., became MRD positive after having been MRD negative) starting at any time point after 3 months of frontline therapy; molecular disease or minimal residual disease is defined by a value of at least of 1 x 10\^-4 (0.01%) by multicolor flow cytometry and/or by next generation sequencing (NGS) * Patients with B-lineage ALL in hematologic complete remission (CR) with molecular failure (i.e., had never achieved an MRD-negativity status before blinatumomab) or had a molecular relapse (i.e., became MRD positive after having been MRD negative) starting at any time point after 3 months of frontline therapy; molecular disease or minimal residual disease is defined by a value of at least of 1 x 10-4 (0.01%) by multicolor flow cytometry and/or by next generation sequencing (NGS) * Performance status of 0, 1, or 2 * Creatinine clearance \>= 30 ml/minute * Bilirubin less than or equal to 3.0 mg/dL * No active or co-existing malignancy with life expectancy less than 12 months * Patients with Philadelphia chromosome positive (Ph+) ALL can be enrolled in CR1 or CR2 and beyond; a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) will be added at the discretion of the treating physician; MRD for these patients will be defined by PCR of 0.1% and above (International Scale) Exclusion Criteria: * Pregnant or nursing women * Known to be human immunodeficiency virus positive (HIV+) * Active and uncontrolled disease/infection as judged by the treating physician * Unable or unwilling to sign the consent form * Active central nervous system (CNS) or extramedullary disease * Monoclonal antibodies therapy within 2 weeks before study entry * Radiotherapy and cancer chemotherapy (except for intrathecal prophylaxis and/or low-dose maintenance therapy such as vinca alkaloids, mercaptopurine, methotrexate, steroids) or any investigational drug within 2 weeks before study entry