Pirtobrutinib as a Game Changer for Patients With CLL

Jennifer A. Woyach, MD, a hematologist-oncologist, professor in the Division of Hematology at The Ohio State University, and co-leader of the Leukemia Research Program at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses how pirtobrutinib (Jaypirca) compares against other Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors and delves into the next steps for pirtobrutinib in the chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)/small lymphocytic lymphoma space.

According to Woyach, pirtobrutinib stands out from other BTK inhibitors due to its unique mechanism of action. Its non-covalent mechanism can potentially lead to a better safety profile in this patient population.

The agent recently received accelerated approval for the treatment of CLL. While initial approval was granted for patients who progressed after treatment with both a BTK inhibitor and a BCL-2 inhibitor, further studies are underway to determine the drug's efficacy and safety in a wider range of patients with CLL.

Transcription:

0:10 | Pirtobrutinib should be thought of as distinct from the other commercially available BTK inhibitors because this is a non-covalent inhibitor, as opposed to the other ones, which are covalent inhibitors. An [adverse] effect profile might be a little bit better with pirtobrutinib because it is such a selective molecule. So far, it has only been tested in the post-covalent BTK inhibitor setting in large numbers of patients. This is the subset of patients where accelerated approval was achieved recently, so that is for patients with relapsed/refractory CLL, who have received both a prior BTK and a prior BCL-2 inhibitor.

0:45 | Pirtobrutinib just got accelerated approval in CLL. There are a number of phase 3 trials that are ongoing, either accruing patients or where we are just awaiting results. This is looking at pirtobrutinib in a number of different clinical settings from the relapsed/refractory setting all the way up through frontline disease.