CLL Breakthrough: 100% Efficacy VenR Retreatment
- 6), CR with incomplete recovery (CRi; n = 2), and partial response (PR; n = 1).
- Progressive disease after going off initial therapy was defined as 2 consecutive peripheral blood measures with MRD values greater than 10-4 or a single measure greater than 10-3.
Patients experiencing progression of their chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) can safely and effectively be treated again with venetoclax and rituximab (VenR), a BCL2 inhibitor and an anti-CD20 antibody, respectively, with new results showing 100% of patients responded to this combination and had prolonged progression-free survival (PFS).1 median PFS from first treatment with VenR was 9.5 years, and median PFS from retreatment was 4.9 years, according to the study findings published in *HemaSphere*.
6), CR with incomplete recovery (CRi; n = 2), and partial response (PR; n = 1). With retreatment, best responses comprised 3 CRs and 6 PRs. the study investigators conducted a longer-term analysis among the patients who achieved a CR or reached undetectable status via minimal residual disease (uMRD) measure.
Progressive disease after going off initial therapy was defined as 2 consecutive peripheral blood measures with MRD values greater than 10-4 or a single measure greater than 10-3. Prior to retreatment,disease status was confirmed through a CT scan or MRI and bone marrow biopsy. Retreatment protocol was a daily oral dose of 400 mg venetoclax, after a 5-week ramp-up; then 375 mg/m2 rituximab started on day 1 of week 6 if needed and monthly doses of 500 mg/m2 rituximab for 5 months.
Prior to initial therapy, 7 of these patients had uMRD status in their bone marrow alone (n = 1) or in