- Patients who fail primary induction therapy or relapse after achieving complete remission (CR) are eligible if they have undergone no more than 2 prior cytotoxic regimens (a regimen is described as a distinctive planned collection of agent[s] and/or modalities to be utilized together during a cycle or course of therapy; i.e., induction+consolidation with or without stem cell transplant [SCT]), >= 2 weeks off cytotoxic chemotherapy, and >= 2 weeks off radiation therapy; patients must be off biologic therapies including hematopoietic growth factors >= 2 weeks; if using hydroxyurea (HU), steroids, imatinib or other tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), interferon, or other non-cytotoxics for blast count control, patient must be off for >= 24 hours (hrs) before starting MK-8776