Updates from the American Society of Hematology 2019 Annual Meeting: Practice-Changing Studies in Treatment-Naïve Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Abstract

The 2019 annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology took place 7–10 December in Orlando, Florida. At the meeting, results from key studies in treatment-naïve chronic lymphocytic leukemia were presented. Of those studies, phase III oral presentations focused on the efficacy and safety of therapy with Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) and B-cell lymphoma-2 (BCL-2) inhibitors. One presentation reported updated results of the ECOG 1912 trial comparing the efficacy and safety of ibrutinib plus rituximab to fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, rituximab in patients with CLL younger than 70 years of age. A second presentation reported interim results of the ELEVATE-TN trial, which is investigating the efficacy and safety of acalabrutinib plus obinutuzumab or acalabrutinib monotherapy versus chlorambucil plus obinutuzumab. A third presentation reported on the single-agent zanubrutinib arm of the SEQUOIA trial in patients with del(17p). The final presentation reported a data update from the CLL14 trial, which is evaluating fixed-duration venetoclax and obinutuzumab versus chlorambucil and obinutuzumab, including the association of minimal residual disease status on progression-free survival. Our meeting report describes the foregoing studies and presents interviews with investigators and commentaries by Canadian hematologists about potential effects on Canadian practice.