Analyzing the Role of BTK Inhibitors and Combination Therapies in the Frontline Treatment of Patients With CLL

At the 2023 Great Debates & Updates in Hematologic Malignancies Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, John Allan, MD, Weill Cornell Cancer Center, New York, New York, discusses the current treatment landscape for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), focusing on the use of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors in combination therapy among patients. 

Transcript: 

Hi, I'm John Allan. I am coming to you from Cornell in New York City where I'm a lymphoma CLL physician. I'm here at [the] Great Debates and Updates [in Hematologic Malignancies] 2023 [meeting] in Boston, Massachusetts, and it was a pleasure to be here.

I just gave a lecture highlighting frontline therapy in CLL and particularly focusing on BTK inhibitors and the role of the various agents that we now have. We explored long-term outcomes, we looked at long-term safety, and we looked at various combination data with anti-CD20 therapies.

We moved on to discuss combination approaches with venetoclax. We explored the role that they may have. We explored the role of triplets versus doublets, and we highlighted many of the studies that are ongoing and are being done and currently enrolled. We'll have readouts in the next several years that will be very important to inform us on how to manage our patients going forward. 

Some of the takeaways that we found with the trials that have been done are that patients are having excellent long-term outcomes. Additionally, we are now honing in on what [the] specific toxicities [are] for these various agents. 

Another big takeaway was looking at the potential role of combination therapy in CLL with BTK inhibitors and [B-cell lymphoma 2] (BCL2), looking at outcomes, particularly [minimal residual disease] (MRD) negativity responses and complete remissions and long-term [progression-free survival] (PFS) in patients being treated with BTK inhibitors, venetoclax versus triplets and versus just sequential monotherapies, which is our current standard- of- care.

Source: 

Allan, J. First Line Treatment of CLL/SLL with Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors: Seeking Lasting Results. Presented at the Great Debates and Updates in Hematologic Malignancies Meeting; August 17-19, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts.