In a nutshell
This study aimed to investigate the effects of reducing the dose of ibrutinib on the outcomes of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. This study concluded that dose reduction has no significant effect on the outcomes of these patients.
Some background
Ibrutinib (Imbruvica) is a targeted therapy used to treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The recommended lifelong daily dose is 420mg. Many patients need to stop treatment due to side effects when receiving this dose.
It is not known if using a reduced dose of ibrutinib would impact the outcomes for patients with CLL.
Methods & findings
This study involved 70 patients with CLL who were treated with ibrutinib. Patients were followed up for an average of 21.9 months.
Of these patients, 31.3% required dose reductions. At follow-up, there was no significant difference in the overall response rate, clinical benefit rate (the percentage of patients who have achieved complete or partial response and stable disease in response to treatment), survival without cancer growing or spreading, and overall survival between patients who received the full dose and patients who received the reduced dose.
The bottom line
This study concluded that reducing the dose of ibrutinib does not affect the outcomes of treatment for patients with CLL.
The fine print
This study had a small number of patients. Larger studies need to be carried out.
Published By :
Leukemia & lymphoma
Date :
Jan 02, 2019
