Dr. Zelenetz on Nivolumab Plus Ibrutinib in Patients With CLL

Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD, medical director of Quality Informatics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses an early-phase trial of nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ibrutinib (Imbruvica) in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

A clinical trial of nivolumab combined with ibrutinib was explored in patients with CLL and Richter’s transformation. However, results showed that all of the clinical activity observed with nivolumab was in patients who had Richter’s transformation, but not CLL. The activity observed is what would have been expected ibrutinib to have in patients with CLL.