Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of compound Zhebei granules(CZBG) with chemotherapy in the treatment of refractory acute leukemia.METHODS: In this multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, we used a central(online) randomization system to assign 235 patients to two treatment groups. A total of 118 patients received chemotherapy combined with CZBG(4 g,twice daily) and 117 patients received chemotherapy plus placebo. The clinical efficacy was evaluated at the end of one chemotherapeutic cycle.RESULTS: In the full analysis set, in which deaths due to disease progression were regarded as inefficacy, the rates of complete remission(CR) and partial remission(CR + PR) were 32.35% and 50.00%,respectively, for the chemotherapy combined with CZBG group, and 23.08% and 35.58%, respectively,for the chemotherapy plus placebo group. There was a statistically significant difference between the two groups according to a ysis set(PPχ2test(P < 0.05). In the per protocol analS), the CR(33.67%),CR+PR(52.04%) response rates for the chemotherapy plus CZBG group were significantly different from the response rates of the control group(CR:24.24% and CR+PR: 37.37%), respectively(P < 0.05).CONCLUSION: CZBG plus chemotherapy can improve the clinical remission rate of refractory acute leukemia after one just one therapeutic cycle.

Key words: Refractory acute leukemia, Zhebei granules, Chemotherapy remission rate, Randomized clinical trial