Does Adding Chemo to BTK Inhibitors Have a Real Benefit?

The advent of BTK inhibitors has revolutionized the therapy of CLL in the last several years. The first in class covalent BTK inhibitor ibrutinib was studied as a single agent in its pivotal registration trials, against chlorambucil in the frontline setting and against ofatumumab in the relapsed setting. Early phase 1b data did establish that ibrutinib could be safely combined with both bendamustine rituximab (BR) and fludarabine cyclophosphamide rituximab (FCR). The combination with BR led to the pivotal HELIOS trial, in which relapsed CLL patients without 17p deletion were randomized to BR or BR-ibrutinib.

Source: Clinical Lymphoma, Myeloma and Leukemia - September 1, 2017 Category: Hematology Authors: Jennifer R. Brown Source Type: research