Chemotherapy is considered the standard treatment for most cancers, including leukemia. But in a surprising new clinical trial, a non-chemo drug called ibrutinib decreased the risk of death more dramatically than the standard chemo protocol in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, the most common type of chronic leukemia among adults.
CLL isn't curable, but depending on individual factors, the overall survival rate is anywhere from six to 25 years.
The study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, followed 269 CLL patients aged 65 or older who were new to treatment. Forty-four percent had advanced stage disease. After tracking their progress for 24 months, researchers found that ibrutinib, known commercially as Imbruvica, produced a survival rate of about 98 percent, while traditional chemo resulted in a survival rate of about 85 percent.
Over the course of the two-year study, three patients in the group given ibrutinib died, while 17 patients in the chemo treatment group died.
“The big message is that there is a major difference between the two groups,” lead study researcher Dr. Jan Burger of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center told Time. “The ibrutinib patients are doing much better in every aspect in terms of their response rates.”
Ibrutinib works by attaching itself to enzymes that act as cancer growth signals, thereby stopping spread of the disease, according to the researchers.
Currently, the Imbruvica pill is approved for cancer patients who have tried at least one other therapy first, Reuters reports. The drug's distributors have submitted their data to U.S. health officials and are expected to receive feedback in early 2016.
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