Dr. Byrd on the Clinical Implications of the ELEVATE-RR Trial in CLL

John C. Byrd, MD, D. Warren Brown Chair of Leukemia Research, Distinguished University Professor of Medicine, Medicinal Chemistry and Veterinary Biosciences, senior advisor, Cancer Experimental Therapeutics, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center–James, discusses the clinical implications of the phase 3 ELEVATE-RR trial (NCT02477696) in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

Findings from the ELEVATE-RR study, which were presented during the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting, demonstrated noninferiority with acalabrutinib (Calquence) vs ibrutinib (Imbruvica) with a lower incidence of common adverse effects (AEs), grade 3 or higher AEs, serious AEs, and treatment discontinuations in patients with previously treated CLL.

As such, the findings suggest that most patients with CLL should receive acalabrutinib vs ibrutinib when deciding between BTK inhibitor monotherapies, Byrd says. Additionally, these data lay the groundwork for future combination studies with acalabrutinib, Byrd explains. Potentially, utilizing acalabrutinib in combination regimens could yield better tolerability vs ibrutinib-based combinations, Byrd says.

Ultimately, both acalabrutinib and ibrutinib are viable options that can offer good outcomes to patients with CLL, concludes Byrd.