Dr. Woyach on the Role of Acalabrutinib in CLL

Jennifer Woyach, MD, associate professor, Department of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center–James, discusses the role of acalabrutinib (Calquence) in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). 

Acalabrutinib is a second-generation BTK inhibitor and, similar to ibrutinib (Imbruvica), it binds irreversibly to BTK, says Woyach.

Although ibrutinib inhibits several proteins that are similar in structure, acalabrutinib is more selective, which may mitigate toxicity. 

According to mature results from the phase 2 ACE-CL-001 trial (NCT02029443), acalabrutinib continued to show encouraging clinical activity in patients with treatment-naïve CLL. 

At a median follow-up of 53 month​s, 86% of patients were still receiving treatment, and the event-free survival rate at 48 months was 90%, which is similar to ibrutinib, Woyach concludes.