Clinical trial results & reviews of new treatments for CLL written in easy to understand terms

[lankisterguy]

Anyone interested in reading a weekly update of the latest breaking news for CLL may want to sign up to get emails from this source: medivizor.com/?login=2

Here are the three links for the articles mentioned in the picture above:

medivizor.com/view_article/...

medivizor.com/view_article/...

medivizor.com/view_article/...

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Here is a sample of the Ibrutinib and Venetoclax write up:

Combining ibrutinib and venetoclax for first-time treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia

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In a nutshell

This study wanted to research if the combination therapy of ibrutinib (Imbruvica) and venetoclax (Venclexta) was effective in the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Researchers found that this combination therapy was an effective treatment for high-risk and older patients with CLL.

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Some background

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia is a cancer of the bone marrow. It may lead to an abnormal immune system. Ibrutinib and venetoclax are drugs approved for the treatment of CLL. Each drug is known to work well on its own. It is not known if both of these drugs given together is even more effective in the treatment of CLL.

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Methods & findings

80 patients with CLL were included in this study. All patients received ibrutinib alone. After 3 cycles of treatment, venetoclax was added to the treatment. Combination treatment was given for 24 cycles. Response to treatment was measured.

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After 12 cycles of combined treatment, 88% of patients had a complete response. 61% of patients had no signs of disease in the blood after treatment. After 18 cycles, 96% of patients were in remission. Patients of 65 years and older had a higher rate of response to combination treatment. The estimated survival without signs of cancer at 1 year was 98%.

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3 patients had tumor lysis syndrome (a side effect of cancer treatment where dead cancer cells escape into the blood). Side effects were similar between ibrutinib and venetoclax.

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The bottom line

The study concluded that combining ibrutinib and venetoclax was safe and effective in the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, particularly in high-risk and older patients.

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The fine print

There was no comparison group in this study. Further, randomized studies are needed,

Let me know if the links don't work and I will try to repair them.

This post is intentionally unlocked, so please do not reply with any personal information that you do not want to have accessible to Google searches.

Len

[Graham64]

Hi lankisterguy. The site looks great, but doesn't work properly. It's impossible to sign up. Is it restricted geographically? Graham

[lankisterguy Volunteer in reply to Graham64]

I don't know how to test that problem and location theory,

I use Google Chrome browser and have trouble with Internet Explorer every time I click a link on IE, the site wants to load cookies on my computer, and when I block them it auto signs me in with my info anyway.

so here is a shout-out to AussieNeil , Oleboyredw-uk , HAIRBEAR_UK or other computer savvy folks outside the USA to test whether it is a site / location / browser issue.

Len

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator in reply to lankisterguy]

I can view the articles in Europe on a Chrome mobile browser and while I haven't signed up, the sign up page appears to be functional.

Graham, there is indeed a huge web page quality problem now that Chrome is the dominant browser. Quite often, web pages are only tested on Chrome, so problems occurring with other browsers are unfortunately becoming more common.

Neil

[Graham64 in reply to AussieNeil]

Thanks both of you. I took your advice and used chrome, and have now been able to sign up. Thanks for your help. It looks a very useful site.

[Lily_Pad_Master]

Great resource. Thanks for posting.

[marcyh]

FYI - There have been some privacy concerns with Google Chrome in the news recently. I was disappointed to read this from the Washington Post: washingtonpost.com/technolo...

marcyh

[WinJ3]

It's easy to read and understand. Thanks!

[rvles]

It looks very interesting, the e-mails are concise and clear, so I signed up. But I'm wondering what is their business model, how do they fund their activities? It looks like a for profit enterprise rather than a foundation. Are they selling information on members, like Facebook? Anybody have any ideas?

Raymond

[Time17]

Good links/information, thanks.

[Agiledog]

Hey, Len.

Re: Medivizor

I am not digitally savvy enough to comprehend the tech language and legalese of Privacy statements. But I am always suspicious. This service looks good, but they are of course commercial and are in it for the money, not just altruism. I don't do social media and don't want my PII to get shared with social media or start a cascade of email advertising garbage. Do you have an opinion about this? Did you sign up? If so, any bad results?

Hope you are doing well, friend.

Bud

BTW, I know novel agent combos are still in trials and await approval. But do you know of any off-label use of acala or ibru with V, O, D, or umbralisib combos in clinical practice? I am trying to think ahead for the time when my single agent acalabrutinib fails and what my options may be if combos are still not approved. Thanks

[lankisterguy Volunteer]

I signed up for the service 6 months ago but haven't gotten another article that I thought was useful. Their filters or selection criteria is pretty crude and the few articles that addressed CLL were not nearly as well written as the one I posted.

Their business model could be like Patient Power - a for profit company that is funded by the pharma companies

Len