PD-1 and PDL-1 inhibitors for CLL

[bkoffman]

Friends,

Happy New Year! We at the CLL Society are thrilled to be entering our second year as a non-profit patient organization serving the unmet needs of those affected by CLL and we look forward to another year of growth, as well as anticipating more great research data on new treatments for those of us with CLL. In this first week of 2016, take a look in our Beyond the Basics section to view my interview from iwCLL 2015 with Dr. John Pagel from the Swedish Hospital in Seattle as he discusses PD-1 and PDL-1 inhibitors for the treatment of CLL. You can see it at cllsociety.org/2016/01/dr-j...

Two weeks ago, we published our second quarterly newsletter, The CLL Tribune. One of our goals within the newsletter is to address questions from our readers. Go to the Ask & Tell section to submit your own questions or comments, and take a look at the Ask The Doctor section to read Dr. Furman's answers to your questions submitted to our last issue.

Another goal for 2016 in addressing the unmet needs of those affected by CLL is to set up Patient/Caregiver support groups in areas that don't currently have one available. We are currently identifying those geographic areas, so please consider answering a couple of questions in our Reader Poll to let us know if there is a need in your area.

For those of you in the Charlotte or Atlanta areas, we just became aware of 2 patient meetings coming up in February: Thursday, February 4th in Charlotte starting at 5:30 PM at the Hampton Inn & Suites Charlotte, and Saturday, February 27th starting at 9:30 AM at the Sheraton Suites Galleria-Atlanta. CLL patients will be sharing their personal stories, and local CLL experts will be providing a talk on the basics of CLL. You can call 844-482-6815 to register. Complimentary breakfast and parking are provided and you are welcome to bring a guest. I will be at both meetings with an exhibit table and will stay afterwards to meet with attendees who may be interested in participating in a support group in those areas. I look forward to meeting you there.

Happy New Year!

Stay strong.

We are all in this together

Brian Koffman

Volunteer Medical Director of the CLL Society

cllsociety.org

bkoffman.blogspot.com

[Parramatta]

Hello Brian, I would like to say a big thank you to you for all that you do for us

fellow people with CLL. I always read all your posts and very informative

videos, you do a wonderful job. I had my hospital appointment on Monday

with Dr. Judith Trotman, who you interviewed in Sydney lately. I have had CLL

for over 5 years now and to date haven't had treatment, except for monthly

Intragam infusions to boost my immunity. Wishing you good health for the

future. Kindest regards Parramatta.

[bkoffman CLL CURE Hero in reply to Parramatta]

Thanks. Glad you are doing well and Dr. Trotman is on your team.

[jangreen]

Hi another exciting drug that holds such hope. Best wishes

[Motocost]

I'm curious about the comment in John Pagel's article you cited on cllsociety.org: "...the very early data presented at ASCO 2015 demonstrated good results in Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, but not so much in other lymphomas."

Can anyone point me to a reference to this "early data" from ACSO 2015 on PD-1 results in (non-Hodgkin's) lymphomas? As a participant in a Phase I PD-1 + ACP-196 trial for CLL, I am, shall I say, highly invested in following such data.

Thanks,

- Moto

P.S. I did find this interesting article on the ASCO site relevant to this topic. Though not revealing of anything particularly new to me, and not specifically addressing non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma results, it was well worth the time for the memory refresh of particulars: ascopost.com/issues/january...

[bkoffman CLL CURE Hero]

The oral presentation at ASCO 2014 had very small but disappointing data for the checkpoint inhibitors in other lymphomas and CLL.