Dr. Ghia on Key Findings From the CAPTIVATE Trial in CLL

Paolo Ghia, MD, PhD, full professor, Medical Oncology, head, Strategic Research Program on CLL, Università Vita Salute San Raffaele, deputy director, Division of Experimental Oncology, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, discusses key findings from the phase 2 CAPTIVATE trial (NCT02910583) in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). 

The combination of fixed-duration ibrutinib (Imbruvica) and venetoclax (Venclexta) elicited a high complete response (CR) rate in patients with CLL, meeting the primary end point of the CAPTIVATE trial, Ghia says. The results showed that 56% of patients without 17p deletions derived a CR with ibrutinib/venetoclax, Ghia says. However, the overall patient population also included patients with high-risk genomic features, adds Ghia. 

The study enrolled patients 71 years old and younger, Ghia says. Overall, patients obtained a 77% rate undetectable minimal residual disease (uMRD) in the peripheral blood and 60% in the bone marrow, Ghia explains. Moreover, at 27.9 months of follow-up, the median 24-month progression-free survival rate was 95% among all patients treated, Ghia says. This indicates that responses obtained with fixed-duration ibrutinib/venetoclax can be durable, even in patients who did not achieve uMRD, Ghia concludes.