Dr Peter Hillmen Outlines Zanubrutinib as a New Option to Treat in R/R CLL

Ibrutinib is currently a standard of care in relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia, but zanubrutinib is an effective second-line and second-generation option, said Peter Hillmen, PhD, MB ChB, professor at the University of Leeds and honorary consultant hematologist at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

Transcript

Ibrutinib is a standard of care in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. How can zanubrutinib differentiate itself as a treatment of choice?

So, I think ibrutinib is one of the standards of care, for sure, and we have a lot of mature data for ibrutinib in relapsed disease. So, it continues to be important treatment. I think we need more data and larger trials of safety for ibrutinib going forward, to look at those rare complications we see with BTK [Bruton tyrosine kinase] inhibition.

I think the zanubrutinib is an effective second-line, also second-generation, BTK inhibitor, and where available, you know, may say displace ibrutinib in some patient groups, I think. It's given twice a day, which is slightly less convenient, but most patients are fine. It can cause a little bit more neutropenia but doesn't seem to cause more infection. So, it's been, it's very well tolerated. I think it gives us more options with the number of BTK inhibitors is coming through.