Dr. Pinilla-Ibarz on the Impact of Venetoclax in CLL

Javier A. Pinilla-Ibarz, MD, PhD, senior member, Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses the impact of venetoclax (Venclexta) in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

Venetoclax has revolutionized the face of second-line treatment for patients with CLL, says Pinilla-Ibarz. Venetoclax has facilitated the possibility of limited duration of treatment, as well as the potential to achieve minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity, adds Pinilla-Ibarz.

In June, the FDA approved venetoclax for the treatment of patients with CLL with or without 17p deletion, following at least 1 prior line of therapy. The BCL-2 inhibitor is also approved for use in combination with rituximab (Rituxan) in the same patient population. The FDA recently added MRD data from the phase III MURANO trial to the second-line label. In the MURANO trial, the rate of MRD negativity was 53% following 9 months of treatment with the combination.

Venetoclax has garnered a lot of excitement in the field, explains Pinilla-Ibarz. Now, interest has turned toward combination regimens, some of which include other monoclonal antibodies as well as ibrutinib (Imbruvica).