Southampton researchers have shown administering two cancer drugs together has huge potential for patients with difficult-to-treat or recurrent chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
Dr Francesco Forconi, a haematologist at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust and associate professor in haematological oncology at the University of Southampton, led the CLARITY study in Southampton.
It aimed to see if combining two treatments currently used to treat CLL could allow patients to stop treatment altogether.
The study found cancer cells were undetectable in the blood of 53% and the bone marrow of 36% patients with CLL, following a year-long trial combining two existing drugs.
Eradicating the disease
Both the drugs – ibrutinib and venetoclax – are already used to treat CLL patients and significantly improve survival but used alone they cannot eradicate the disease so patients can stop treatment.
Ibrutinib inhibits the growth and replication of the cancer cells, whilst venetoclax reactivates the body’s natural mechanism to destroy faulty cells.
In the CLARITY study, 53 patients with CLL took both drugs for 12 months and the research team analysed their blood and bone marrow to look for eradication of ‘measurable residual disease’ – less than one CLL cell in 10,000 leukocytes (the white blood cells affected by the cancer).
By the end of the year, the cancer was undetectable in the blood of 28 (53%) and the marrow of 19 (36%) of the patients – meaning it had been effectively eradicated.
They also found forty-seven patients (89%) responded well to the treatment and 27 (51%) had complete remission, meaning they no longer showed any signs of the cancer.
Promising results
“I am really pleased with the potential this study has shown in allowing CLL patients to stop treatment,” said Dr Francesco Forconi.
“The combinations of these two drugs, which are already available on the NHS, represents a promising therapy for this difficult-to-treat disease and will improve patient care and lives.”
Posted on Friday 17 January 2020