New combo therapy shaping management of common form of leukaemia

An Australian-led study offers new hope for patients with untreated chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), revealing promising results from a novel combination treatment that could redefine the management of this challenging disease.

Standard chemotherapy treatments for CLL, plus the immunotherapy treatment rituximab*, require patients to undergo a lengthy infusion and can cause prolonged immune suppression and other unpleasant side-effects.

Professor John Seymour, Director of Haematology at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the Royal Melbourne Hospital, said “Our [phase III AMPLIFY] study indicates that a new treatment combination of two or three targeted therapies – AstraZeneca’s Calquence (acalabrutinib)-AbbVie’s Venclexta (venetoclax), with or without Roche’s Gazyva (obinutuzumab) – can significantly prolong progression free survival compared to the previous standard chemotherapy treatment regimens.”

He added, “These results are very encouraging with the overall survival at 36 months being significantly better with this all-tablet combination compared to chemotherapy treatments. It shows the potential to achieve better outcomes for patients through a simple tablet-based therapy, rather than requiring them to come to hospital and receive their treatment via an infusion.”

Professor Seymour said another all-tablet approach in CLL – using a different drug called Imbruvica (ibrutinib) – was approved in Australia however this was “associated with a concerning risk of heart complications which are much less frequent with the Calquence-Venclexta combination”.

The AMPLIFY trial, supported by AstraZeneca, also observed CLL patients with a disease profile called “uIGHV” which is generally associated with poorer outcomes compared to patients with the “mutated IGHV” profile.

“These patients had equivalent outcomes with the new combination, identifying this group as one that particularly benefits,” Professor Seymour said.

He further explained, “When Gazyva treatment was added to the uIGHV group they had a progression-free survival similar to the group with mutated IGHV patients, which is promising in this hard-to-treat cancer group. It was also reassuring to observe similar side-effect profiles for all the treatments with the majority being readily manageable.

“This really is wonderful news for fit, treatment naive CLL patients and once this combination receives PBS-funding in Australia, we look forward to being able to offer them this safe and effective all-oral, fixed-duration regimen to reduce the burdens of therapy in the near future.”

CLL is a blood cancer that affects white blood cells called lymphocytes. It is the most common leukaemia in Australia, with approximately 1000 Australians diagnosed each year. These study results were also presented at the American Society of Haematology meeting in San Diego in December last year.

*Roche’s MabThera, approved biosimilars include Riximyo, Ruxience and Truxima 

In reimagining healthcare across the entire patient journey, Health Industry Hub^TM is the only one-stop-hub uniting the diversity of the Pharma, MedTech, Diagnostics & Biotech sectors to inspire meaningful change.

The Health Industry Hub^TM content is copyright protected. Access is available under individual user licenses. Please click here to subscribe and visit T&Cs here.