Treatment Discontinuation Patterns for Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia in Real-World Settings: Results from a Multi-Center International Study
Clinical Lymphoma, Myeloma & Leukemia, 2023
Introduction
This study assessed treatment discontinuation patterns and reasons among chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients initiating first-line (1L) and second-line (2L) treatments in real-world settings.
Materials and methods
Using deidentified electronic medical records from the CLL Collaborative Study of Real-World Evidence, premature treatment discontinuation was assessed among FCR, BR, BTKi-based, and BCL-2-based regimen cohorts.
Results
Of 1364 1L patients (initiated in 1997-2021), 190/13.9% received FCR (23.7% discontinued prematurely); 255/18.7% received BR (34.5% discontinued prematurely); 473/34.7% received BTKi-based regimens, of whom 28.1% discontinued prematurely; and 43/3.2% received venetoclax-based regimens, of whom 16.3% discontinued prematurely (venetoclax monotherapy: 7/0.5%, of whom 42.9% discontinued; VG/VR: 36/2.6%, of whom 11.1% discontinued). The most common reasons for treatment discontinuation were adverse events (FCR: 25/13.2%; BR: 36/14.1%; BTKi-based regimens: 75/15.9%) and disease progression (venetoclax-based: 3/7.0%). Of 626 2L patients, 20/3.2% received FCR (50.0% discontinued); 62/9.9% received BR (35.5% discontinued); 303/48.4% received BTKi-based regimens, of whom 38.0% discontinued; and 73/11.7% received venetoclax-based regimens, of whom 30.1% discontinued (venetoclax monotherapy: 27/4.3%, of whom 29.6% discontinued; VG/VR: 43/6.9%, of whom 27.9% discontinued). The most common reasons for treatment discontinuation were adverse events (FCR: 6/30.0%; BR: 11/17.7%; BTKi-based regimens: 60/19.8%; venetoclax-based: 6/8.2%).
Conclusion
The findings of this study highlight the continued need for tolerable therapies in CLL, with finite therapy offering a better tolerated option for patients who are newly diagnosed or relapsed/refractory to prior treatments.
Authors
Shadman M, Manzoor BS, Sail K, Tuncer HH, Allan JN, Ujjani C, Emechebe N, Kamalakar R, Coombs CC, Leslie L, Barr PM, Brown JR, Eyre TA, Rampotas A, Schuh A, Lamanna N, Skarbnik A, Roeker LE, Bannerji R, Eichhorst B, Fleury I, Davids MS, Alhasani H, Jiang D, Hill BT, Schuster SJ, Brander DM, Pivneva I, Burne R, Guerin A, Mato AR