Over the last decade, the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) underwent a dramatic evolution. While chemo-immunotherapy (CIT) has long been the standard frontline treatment for CLL patients requiring therapy, a better understanding of the disease biology resulted in the development of novel small molecule inhibitors targeting specific pathways involved in the CLL pathogenesis (e.g. ibrutinib, venetoclax, acalabrutinib). While these novel agents initially proved their worth in the relapsed/refractory setting, convincing clinical trials in the frontline setting pulled these agents forward in the CLL treatment paradigm. The availability of these new therapeutic options in the frontline treatment of CLL confronts hematologists with the challenging task of choosing the right first line treatment for the individual patient. To provide further guidance on this matter Dr. Davide Rossi, MD, PhD (Deputy Head of the Division of Hematology of the Oncology Institute of Southern Switzerland; Head of the Laboratory of Experimental Hematology at the Institute of Oncology Research IOR in Bellinzona, Switzerland) shares his insights into the optimization of the frontline treatment for CLL patients in 2021.

<p>Over the last decade, the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) underwent a dramatic evolution. While chemo-immunotherapy (CIT) has long been the standard frontline treatment for CLL patients requiring therapy, a better understanding of the disease biology resulted in the development of novel small molecule inhibitors targeting specific pathways involved in the CLL pathogenesis (e.g. ibrutinib, venetoclax, acalabrutinib). While these novel agents initially proved their worth in the relapsed/refractory setting, convincing clinical trials in the frontline setting pulled these agents forward in the CLL treatment paradigm. The availability of these new therapeutic options in the frontline treatment of CLL confronts hematologists with the challenging task of choosing the right first line treatment for the individual patient. To provide further guidance on this matter Dr. Davide Rossi, MD, PhD (Deputy Head of the Division of Hematology of the Oncology Institute of Southern Switzerland; Head of the Laboratory of Experimental Hematology at the Institute of Oncology Research IOR in Bellinzona, Switzerland) shares his insights into the optimization of the frontline treatment for CLL patients in 2021.</p>

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