Dr. Matthew Davids On Advances in CLL

Matthew Davids, MD, physician, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, instructor in medicine, talks about advances inchronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) treatment.

Several novel therapies have been approved recently for CLL, including obinutuzumab, ibrutinib, ofatumumab, and idelalisib. Since many of these novel therapies only elicit a partial response, combining them may be a better plan for developing a deeper, more full response, says Davids. Another benefit of combining these agents is that many of them have non-overlapping toxicities and complementary efficacy.

Davids says in practice, these newly approved agents will be used more in older patients in an attempt to move away from chemotherapy, while a combination of chemo-immunotherapy may be more ideal for younger patients.