Pharmacyclics Presents Positive Data at American Society of Hematology from Ibrutinib Phase 1b/2 and Phase 2 Trials

Pharmacyclics

today announced follow-up results that its investigational oral therapy ibrutinib (PCI-32765), as a single agent, resulted in durable responses for patients over 65 years of age with treatment-naive chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) and for those with relapsed/refractory (RR) or high-risk (HR) disease. In a study of 116 patients, the overall response rate (ORR) was 68 percent in elderly treatment-naive (TN) patients with an estimated 96 percent progression-free survival (PFS) rate at 26 months. In patients with RR CLL/SLL, including those with HR disease, the ORR was 71 percent with an estimated PFS at 26 months of 75 percent. A second study in 40 patients with HR CLL treated with the combination of ibrutinib and rituximab therapy reported an ORR of 83 percent, with 38 of the 40 patients continuing on therapy without disease progression. Patients with HR disease have inferior responses to standard chemo-immunotherapy and shorter rates of PFS and OS. These findings, from ongoing Phase 1b/2 and Phase 2 trials, were presented in a press briefing today at the 54th annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology in Atlanta, GA. CLL and SLL are common