How long does ibutrinib still working for a 11q and 17p young patient? My brother started in july 2018 his monoteraphy treatment for a relaspsed cll with ibutrinib, and works well this months. His levels in analytics are un normal levels in febrary, and he looks very healthy, practice sports, weight gain, ....but im always very affraid if ibutrinib fails, and he relapse. It Will be some years from know, despite he is 17p?
Thank you very much!!!
Hi Cgr2018,
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It is difficult to predict how long Ibrutinib will help your brother. Each CLL patient is very different, and that is why our doctors monitor us - usually every 2-3 months to detect signs that the drug has stopped working.
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I'm not certain what country and health system your brother is under, but I suspect a Spanish speaking country. In some countries there are other new targeted drugs like Venetoclax / Venclexta, Obinutuzumab/Gazyva, and/or Idelalisib/Zydelig that can be used if your brother relapses while on Ibrutinib/Imbruvica.
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I have been treated 6 times with 4 different NON chemo drugs and now doing extremely well on Venetoclax. Ibrutinib was the least effective drug for me, but many people I know well have been taking it successfully for up to 7 years.
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Len
Thank you so much for your response! But do you think ibutrinib may still working for a long time? He is just 9 months with ibutrinib monotherapy and the last results were ok
Ibrutinib may work well for several years. There is no way that even the best CLL experts can predict for a specific patient. As we say in English "only time will tell".
I hope your brother has a long complete remission on Ibrutinib.
Len
Thank you so much!
Thank u! Im from Spain. I feel with anxiety, a lot, about this situation
You might want to read some of the information on cllsociety.org, in addition to posts here from people doing well on Ibrutinib. If you look at the section here called Related Posts
(on the upper right side, or at the bottom on phones) you will find other posts from people posting about Ibrutinib.
I think it's harder for family members and friends, than it is for patients, to deal with CLL and the treatments. Spain seems to have many of the newer treatments available, so if your brother needs something else later he will have other options. Try to focus on the fact that Ibrutinib is working very well for patients who have a 17p deletion. If you are positive it will help your brother.
Thank you very much for your support!!!!
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