CHICAGO – Combining ibrutinib with standard chemoimmunotherapy extended progression-free survival in patients with relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), according to interim results from the HELIOS trial.
In fact, while median progression-free survival was approximately 13 months in the placebo arm, the median progression-free survival had not been reached yet in the study’s ibrutinib arm, explained lead study author Dr. Asher Chanan-Khan.
“I believe that ibrutinib has now become the backbone of treatment of patients with relapsed CLL,” said Dr. Chanan-Khan, professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla.
In a video interview at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Dr. Chanan-Khan discussed ibrutinib’s significant impact on the risk of progression and death, even in the presence of factors associated with aggressive disease or poor outcome.