Toby Eyre, MD, on the Future of BTK Inhibitors in CLL

Dr. Eyre, a consultant hematologist at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, talks about blending clinical trials and patient-facing work in the National Health Service, his research activities, and the top chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) news coming out of the 65th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting & Exposition.

In his discussion, Dr. Eyre reflects on the FLAIR trial, a study from the United Kingdon that explored different treatment arms such as ibrutinib monotherapy, ibrutinib plus rituximab, ibrutinib plus venetoclax, and chemotherapy. He also mentions the ALPINE trial, which was led by Jennifer Brown, MD, PhD, Director of the CLL Center of the Division of Hematologic Malignancies at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Finally, he delves into the ongoing debate on the future of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors in CLL.

“We may have a situation where we see fixed duration around for quite some time, but perhaps we know that [measurable residual disease-] driven stopping rules may be better for patients,” Dr. Eyre said. “So, interesting times, and we will also hopefully get to test the actual two strategies head-to-head. You can see that being an important trial: MRD…versus fixed duration, with maybe even the same agent.”