Expert Discusses Recent CLL Approval

Suman Kambhampati, MD, the co-director of blood cancer research at Sarah Cannon Cancer Institute at HCA Midwest Health, discusses the recent FDA approval of ibrutinib (Imbruvica) plus obinutuzumab (Gazyva) for the frontline treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

The approval was based on the phase III iLLUMINATE trial, which showed that ibrutinib plus obinutuzumab was the first non-chemotherapy combination that was extremely effective in treating nearly all subtypes of patients with CLL. The combination elicited a longer progression-free survival (PFS), nearly a 100% response rate, and better complete responses (CR) than treatment with ibrutinib alone, making it an extremely exciting treatment option for these patients.