Venetoclax in Relapsed deletion 17 CLL

[bkoffman]

Friends,

This week in the 2015 Conference Coverage section of the CLLSociety.org we have posted my final interview with Dr. Stephan Stilgenbauer while we were at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting in December 2015 in Orlando. We discussed his late breaking abstract on venetoclax in refractory CLL patients with deletion 17p. You can see a summary and view our interview here. [cllsociety.org/2016/03/ash-...]

Last Saturday, it was my privilege to speak at The Southern California Blood Cancer Conference sponsored by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in Anaheim, California on being your own advocate. The CLL Society team was in attendance at our booth and it was great to meet all of you who were there. It was a super meeting.

Our first satellite support and education group launched yesterday at City of Hope, Duarte CA and I believe the 15 patients and caregivers shared and learned together. We will be meeting the third Monday of each month at 7 PM of every month.For more information, view the flyer. [cllsociety.org/docs/cohmarc...] There is no charge to attend.

We are also forming a new patient and caregiver support meeting in Charlotte, NC. If you are interested, please complete the online survey to indicate your preferences for days and times. [charlottegroup.questionpro....] We look forward to getting started.

There is another educational meeting coming up, this time by LRF.

April 2nd at 7:30 AM: The Lymphoma Workshop: Understanding Lymphoma Basics and Current Treatment Options hosted by the Lymphoma Research Foundation will be held in Manhattan Beach, California. It will be held at the Manhattan Beach Marriott from 7:30 AM to 3:30 PM. You can find out more information and register here. [lymphoma.org/site/pp.asp?c=...] There is no charge to attend.

In the meantime….

Stay strong.

We are all in this together.

Brian Koffman

Volunteer Medical Director of the CLL Society

[karenmarie]

I am delighted that Venetoclax has been approved by the FDA for 17P deletion. Is there any chance for it to be also used for patients with the 11q deletion that underwent one prior therapy?

[bkoffman CLL CURE Hero in reply to karenmarie]

It would be totally off label but since there is data to suggest it might help, one could push with the aid of a cooperative doctor  to try to get insurance approval.