Credit: NIH
The “transformation” of treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the “Advance of the Year” for 2015, according to a report by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
The report said 4 therapies that were recently approved in the US fill a major unmet need for CLL patients—obinutuzumab and ofatumumab for patients with previously untreated CLL and idelalisib and ibrutinib for patients with relapsed or refractory CLL.
“For many older patients, especially, these drugs essentially offer the first chance at effective treatment, since the side effects of earlier options were simply too toxic for many to handle,” said Gregory Masters, MD, ASCO expert and co-executive editor of the report.
The report, “Clinical Cancer Advances 2015: ASCO’s Annual Report on Progress Against Cancer,” is available in the Journal of Clinical Oncology and on ASCO’s cancer research advocacy website, CancerProgress.net.
The report was developed under the direction of an 18-person editorial board of experts from a wide range of oncology specialties. It features:
- The top cancer research advances of the past year: Identifying major trends in cancer prevention and screening, treatment, quality of life, survivorship, and tumor biology
- A Decade in Review: Recounting improvements in cancer care since the first issue of Clinical Cancer Advances
- The 10-Year Horizon: Previewing trends likely to shape the next decade of cancer care, including genomic technology, nanomedicine, and health information technologies
- Progress in Rare Cancers: Highlighting promising early achievements in treating certain uncommon but devastating cancers.
“This has truly been a banner year for CLL and for clinical cancer research as a whole,” said ASCO President Peter P. Yu, MD. “Advances in cancer prevention and care, especially those in precision medicine, are offering stunning new possibilities for patients.”
