Monday, December 7, 2015

Trial in relapsed "high risk" CLL


There is no question that ibrutinib represents one of the greatest advancements in the management of CLL.  This drug has fundamentally changed our understanding of the biology of the disease and opened up new vistas moving forward.

But there is still room for improvement!

It is like we just unlocked a door and now we have a whole new area to explore.  What strategies make most sense moving forward?  Does ibrutinib work best alone or in combination with other drugs?  Do we have the correct dose and schedule of ibrutinibCan we create a better version of a BTK inhibitor?

One of the earliest questions to emerge is the role of adding CD20 antibodies (rituximab, ofatumumab, ublituximab).  There was some debate that ibrutinib might interfere with CD20 antibodies, but that was speculative.  Now clinical trial data is emerging to help answer this question.

I made a video with PatientPower (great site for all things CLL), to describe one such study looking at this question directly: Does adding CD20 antibody to ibrutinib improve outcomes over ibrutinib alone.

In the video we talk a little about "high risk" CLL, FISH, TP53, 17P, 11Q and so forth.  I hope you find it educational.

As always, you can leave a comment below by clicking on the title of this post then scrolling to the bottom.



4 comments:

  1. Your last CAR-T post was in October 2013. It would be great if you posted an update based on the ASH 2015 CAR-T study reports. Thanks.

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  2. An excellent video. Dr. Sharman clearly stated the the basics of high risk CLL! I learned a great deal from this video.
    Thank you very much !

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  3. Very informative and so well explained - I've learnt a lot, thank-you!

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  4. Thank you for taking the time to write this blog. I am hoping to hold on to my current remission (s/p FCR in 2011 and bendamustine/rituxan in 2015) until the very best BTK treatment relative to my high risk factors has been developed. Your blog has been very informative and encouraging to me.

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