Dr. Kambhampati Discusses Data from the 2018 ASH Annual Meeting in CLL

Suman Kambhampati, MD, co-medical director, Blood Cancer Program, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discusses data from the 2018 ASH Annual Meeting in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

One of the resounding themes of the 2018 ASH Annual Meeting is the introduction of novel drugs and combinations, explains Kambhampati. Compared with historical combinations of immunotherapy and chemotherapy, BTK-based combinations with ibrutinib (Imbruvica) were shown to induce high response rates among young and elderly patients alike.

One important study presented at the meeting examined the combination of ibrutinib and venetoclax (Venclexta) in treatment-naïve patients with high-risk CLL; these data were presented by Nitin Jain, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. In this study, patients received 420 mg of ibrutinib daily for 3 cycles followed by a weekly dose escalation of venetoclax with a daily target dose of 400 mg. The combination was given for 24 cycles, after which patients were tested for undetectable minimal residual disease (MRD). At 12 months, 92% of patients achieved a complete response (CR) or a CR with incomplete hematologic recovery with a 68% achievement of MRD negativity.