Dr. Jennifer Brown on the Role of FCR in CLL

Jennifer Brown MD, PhD, Director, Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Center, Senior Physician, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, discusses fludarabine, cyclophosphamide and rituximab (FCR) and other treatment options for young, fit patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

FCR is the standard frontline therapy for young, fit patients with CLL, says Brown. The benefit of FCR over bendamustine and rituximab (BR) was further confirmed recently by three long-term follow-up trials with FCR. These trials demonstrated that a subset of patients remained progression-free at 12 years. Approximately 60% of patients with mutated IDH CLL will be basically cured with this treatment, says Brown.

However, patients with higher-risk unmated CLL do show continuous replace after 6 months of treatment with FCR. They have a median progression-free survival (PFS) of 5 years. Ibrutinib is approved in this setting, but for a young fit patient side effects should be considered.