Dr Valentin Goede presented promising outcomes for elderly CLL patients at the 18th Congress of the European Hematology Association in Stockholm.

CLL is the most common leukaemia in the western world.

Many CLL patients are elderly and have comorbidities rendering them ineligible for aggressive standard treatments.

It has been an unresolved question whether (i) combination treatment with the chemotherapeutic drug chlorambucil plus a monoclonal CD20 antibody improves outcomes for such patients compared to treatment with chlorambucil alone and (ii) these patients benefit from the use of the novel CD20 antibody obinutuzumab (GA101) relative to the approved CD20 antibody rituximab.

The CLL11 trial conducted by the German CLL Study Group (GCLLSG) in collaboration with Hoffmann-La Roche for the first time compares directly the following treatments in elderly patients with comorbidities: GA101 plus chlorambucil, rituximab plus chlorambucil, and chlorambucil alone.

Addition of GA101 or rituximab to chlorambucil both significantly increased the length of time people lived without their disease worsening (progression-free survival) vs. chlorambucil alone.

Both combination treatments showed an acceptable safety profile in the investigated patient population.

These findings are a significant step in improving the treatment of elderly CLL patients with comorbidities (even if the results of the direct comparison of the two antibodies will be available only later during the trial).

Source: EHA