Jennifer Woyach, MD, associate professor, Department of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center—James, discusses ongoing research with BTK inhibitors in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

At the past several ASH Annual Meetings, several combination studies were presented in CLL. For example, in the phase II CAPTIVATE trial, which was presented at the 2019 ASH Annual Meeting, investigators confirmed the potential for fixed-duration therapy with the combination of venetoclax (Venclexta) and the BTK inhibitor ibrutinib (Imbruvica) in patients with newly diagnosed CLL who are less than 70 years of age.

Moreover, follow-up data were presented from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center study exploring the combination in older patients and those with high-risk disease. The results showed that the majority of patients are achieving minimal residual disease-negative responses as well as a high percentage of complete responses with the combination, says Woyach.

Similar results have been seen with the combination of venetoclax and ibrutinib plus obinutuzumab (Gazyva) in an institutional study conducted at The Ohio State University. With long-term follow-up, it appears that few patients who discontinue treatment are relapsing, says Woyach.

Additionally, the field has follow-up from the phase II CLARITY study, which evaluated the combination of ibrutinib and venetoclax in the relapsed/refractory setting. Taken collectively, these data suggest that fixed-duration therapy with the combination of ibrutinib and venetoclax is safe and feasible, concludes Woyach.