Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) with the deletion of chromosome 17p (del17p) has been linked to aggressive disease and patient survival of only 2 to 3 years from initial chemotherapy-based treatments.

Ibrutinib, a first-in-class, oral, once-daily inhibitor of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase used for treatment without chemotherapy, is approved in the US for the treatment of patients with CLL or small lymphocytic leukaemia (SLL), including CLL/SLL with 17p deletion (del17p CLL/SLL).

In the EU, ibrutinib is approved for the treatment of patients with del17p CLL/SLL and for patients with non- del17p CLL/SLL after 1 prior therapy.

In this analysis, data from 243 patients with del17p CLL were combined from 3 ibrutinib clinical trials with half of the patients on study for 28 months or longer.

The percentage of patients who responded to ibrutinib therapy (overall response rate) was 84%.

At 30 months, an estimated 55% of patients remained progression-free, and 67% of patients remained alive.

Side effects leading to treatment discontinuation occurred in 36 (15%) patients, and 110 (45%) patients were still on study treatment of ibrutinib at the time of this analysis.

The percentages of patients alive and progression-free from ibrutinib treatment at 30 months surpass those of other therapies for del17p, and these results provide further evidence of ibrutinib’s clinical activity and survival outcomes in a difficult-to-treat CLL populations.

Source: EHA