Cladribine, Idarubicin, Cytarabine, and Quizartinib in Treating Patients With Newly Diagnosed, Relapsed, or Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia or High-Risk Myelodysplastic Syndrome

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. To determine the efficacy of quizartinib (AC220) in combination with cladribine, idarubicin and cytarabine (ara-C) induction chemotherapy in newly diagnosed or relapsed/refractory patients with high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). II. To determine the safety of the combination. SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: I. To determine the overall survival and disease-free survival of patients treated with this combination. II. To investigate correlations of response to this combination with a 81-gene panel of gene mutations both in patients with and without FLT3 mutations. III. To identify individual treatment-resistant cell populations and their signaling state that may relate to clinical outcomes using CyTOF (cytometry by time of flight) and single cell sequencing. OUTLINE: INDUCTION: Patients receive idarubicin intravenously (IV) over 1 hour on days 1-3, cladribine IV over 1-2 hours on days 1-5, cytarabine IV over 2 hours on days 1-5 (or days 1-3 for patients over age 60), and quizartinib orally (PO) once daily (QD) on days 6-19. Treatment repeats every 28 days for up to 2 cycles in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. CONSOLIDATION: Patients who achieve complete response (CR) or CR with incomplete platelet recovery (CRp) after Induction receive idarubicin IV over 1 hour on days 1-2, cladribine IV over 1-2 hours on days 1-3, cytarabine IV over 2 hours on days 1-3, and quizartinib PO QD on days 4-28. Treatment repeats every 28 days for up to 5 cycles in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. MAINTENANCE: Patients who achieve CR or CR with incomplete bone marrow recovery (CRi)/CR with partial hematologic recovery (CRh) after Consolidation receive quizartinib PO QD on days 1-28. Treatment repeats every 28 days for up to 12 cycles in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up every 6-12 months.