Ghia Highlights 5-Year Follow-Up Data From CAPTIVATE in CLL/SLL

Paolo Ghia, MD, PhD, deputy director of the Division of Experimental Oncology in San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, Italy, full professor of medical oncology, a group leader in the B-cell Neoplasia Unit, and the head of the Strategic Research Program on CLL at the Università Vita Salute San Raffaele, discusses the key takeaways from 5-year data follow-up data from the phase 2 CAPTIVATE trial (NCT02910583) of ibrutinib (Imbruvica) plus venetoclax (Venclexta) for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and/or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL).

Ghia explains that these 5-year follow-up data show that patients with CLL/SLL can be retreated safely with either ibrutinib as a monotherapy or combined with venetoclax after relapse.

Transcription:

0:09 | This is a treatment that is convenient for community doctors because it is all oral, so we do not need to infuse any antibody, anything [intravenously]. It is convenient and easy. You start with ibrutinib, BTK inhibitors, oral therapy, you do not need to see the patient for many weeks, and that debulks the patient so that when you start venetoclax 3 months later, then the patient is low risk. The vast majority of them become at a low risk of tumor lysis syndrome, which can be a complication when starting venetoclax. But again, with the 3 months of lead-in phase, let's say with ibrutinib, and also if you follow the ramp-up rules and assessment for the biochemical assessment, during the ramp-up, there is no issue of tumor lysis syndrome.

1:08 | In addition, the combination of the 2 drugs showed that it is well-tolerated, particularly in the young and fit patients where we only saw an increase in diarrhea. So more than 50% of the patients do experience diarrhea, but it is typically grade 1 or 2 and resolved after a few days.