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| Professor Stephen Opat |
An international clinical trial for Chronic Lymphocytic
Leukaemia (CLL), including collaborators at Monash University, has examined a
‘chemotherapy-free’ drug combination in older patients for the first time.
Monash Health and Monash University researchers were the
major Australian contributors to the international study, the results of which
were published last week in Blood.
Director of Monash Haematology Professor Stephen Opat said
it was the first time that a combination of two highly effective alternatives
to chemotherapy were analysed in typical older patients with CLL who have other
health concerns.
“Patients were given an antibody (obinutuzumab) directed
against lymphoma cells and a drug (Venetoclax) that was developed here in
Melbourne at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research,” said
study co-author Professor Opat.
“The study showed the
two therapies could be combined fairly safely and that at the end of the
treatment (using a very sensitive molecular test), 11 out of 12 assessable
patients had no evidence of disease in the bloodstream.”
The paper is a first look at the combination therapy,
although the full study results won’t be available for many months.
“This study is very important because while CLL is very
treatable, only a minority of patients would achieve this level or disease
eradication—and they are usually younger patients receiving more aggressive
chemotherapy,” said Professor Opat.
“Elimination of low levels of CLL has been associated with
longer periods of disease control with some patients never needing to be
retreated.”
CLL is the most common leukaemia adults, with a lifetime
risk of 0.5-1%.
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