Chemotherapy-free treatment with acalabrutinib can benefit patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma who were never treated before: a plain language summary of the ELEVATE-TN study

What is this summary about? This summary is about the ELEVATE-TN study for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) who had never been treated before. Patients were divided into 3 groups: 1) acalabrutinib alone, 2) acalabrutinib plus obinutuzumab, a monoclonal antibody, or 3)the usual chemoimmunotherapy treatment (chlorambucil plus a monoclonal antibody). Chemoimmunotherapy uses two or more treatments that combine chemotherapy and immunotherapy. What are the key takeaways? This study looked at how well treatment with acalabrutinib plus obinutuzumab (a monoclonal antibody) worked by measuring the length of time during treatment that a patient lives with the disease without it getting worse.The doctors estimated that 87% of patients who had acalabrutinib plus obinutuzumab would be alive without disease getting worse 4 years after starting treatment compared with only 25% of patients who had the usual chemoimmunotherapy option of obinutuzumab plus chlorambucil. It also showed that 96% of patients in the two groups taking acalabrutinib had their cancer stay the same or decrease compared with 83% of those treated with the usual chemoimmunotherapy.The doctors found that the most common side effects (an unwanted and sometimes dangerous reaction caused by a medication) for the 2 groups of patients treated with acalabrutinib (with or without obinutuzumab) were diarrhea and headache, which happened more often during the first year of treatment and happened less over time. What were the main conclusions reported by the researchers? These results mean that acalabrutinib is a useful chemotherapy-free option and gave better results than chemoimmunotherapy with low side effects for patients with CLL/SLL who are starting their treatment for leukemia.