Dr. Hillmen on Results With Acalabrutinib in CLL

Peter Hillmen, MD, PhD, a consultant in Clinical Haematology at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, as well as an honorary professor of haematology at the University of Leeds, discusses results reported with acalabrutinib (Calquence) in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), as demonstrated in a phase 3 trial (NCT02477696).

The primary end point of the study, which examined the agent vs ibrutinib (Imbruvica) in patients with previously-treated CLL, was non-inferiority progression-free survival (PFS), which was met, according to Hillmen. As such, there was no difference in PFS between acalabrutinib and ibrutinib, which is important to note, Hillmen says.

In terms of key secondary end points, incidence of any grade atrial fibrillation was reduced, at 9.4% in the acalabrutinib arm, compared with 16% in the ibrutinib arm, Hillmen notes. Moreover, the hazard ratio was approximately 0.52 in favor of acalabrutinib, Hillmen adds. Additionally, when excluding patients from the trial who had experienced prior atrial fibrillation, the difference was even more mild with a more mild reduction fromacalabrutinib, Hillmen concludes.