Dr. Byrd Discusses the Future Treatment of CLL

John C. Byrd, MD, D. Warren Brown Chair of Leukemia Research, professor of medicine, Medicinal Chemistry and Veterinary Biosciences, director, Division of Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, discusses the future treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

Byrd says that he is very excited to see the results of current clinical trials investigating triplet therapies in CLL. Additionally, he says that using targeted therapy early in patients who are determined to be high risk can subvert the clonal evolution in patients developing the disease is another exciting area of investigation.

An area of unmet need in CLL is the treatment of patients with Richter’s transformation. There are no effective therapies as of now, says Byrd, so efforts must be put toward developing agents for that subgroup of patients.