This week the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has approved the treatment venetoclax with obinutuzumab as a new treatment for people with untreated CLL.
Venetoclax with obinutuzumab is currently available as first line treatment for people with CLL who have the genetic changes 17p deletion or TP53 mutation. For those people without the genetic mutation, the treatment is available on the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF). The CDF is a way that treatments can temporarily be made available to patients while more evidence into its cost effectiveness is gathered. This decision now means that all people in England and Wales with CLL who have not yet received any treatment can have venetoclax with obinutuzumab
The decision was made by the NICE committee because evidence has shown that venetoclax with obinutuzumab works just as well as current treatment options available and provides clinicians with another option for their patients.
Venetoclax is a type of targeted treatment called a BCL-2 inhibitor. B-cell lymphoma-2 (BCL-2) is a protein that can help lymphoma cells to stay alive longer than they should. BCL-2 inhibitors block this protein, activating cell death.
Obinutuzumab is a monoclonal antibody therapy that sticks to the protein CD20. By sticking to the protein it activates your immune system to destroy the lymphoma cell that is making the protein.
Find out more about drug development, approval and funding, or visit Lymphoma TrialsLink for the latest on clinical trials for lymphoma.