Dr. Brown Discusses New Drugs on the Horizon in CLL

Jennifer R. Brown, MD, PhD, associate professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, director, Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Center, senior physician, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses new drugs on the horizon for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), presented at the Society of Hematologic Oncology (SOHO) 2015 Annual Meeting.

Brown says ABT-199 is the next inhibitor most likely to be approved by the FDA. This is a BCL-2 inhibitor currently in advanced clinical development. ABT-199 has shown response rates of 80% to 90% in patients with relapsed/refractory CLL, with complete remission rates of 25% to 40% when combined with rituximab, as seen in a previous study. ABT-199 has the ability to induce complete remissions, says Brown.

Brown also discusses next-generation PI3K-inhibitors, as well as next-generation BTK-inhibitors. These agents are being developed in the wake of approvals for idelalisib and ibrutinib, respectively.