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AstraZeneca's Calquence Steps Up in First-Line CLL

Full Results Of First-Line Calquence Use In CLL

 
• By John Davis

A PFS benefit and favorable tolerability profile associated with AstraZeneca’s BTK inhibitor acalabrutinib used first-line in CLL, when given alone or combined with obinutuzumab, may serve it well against entrenched competitors and BTK inhibitors in clinical development.

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The race is on to gain market share in CLL patients • Source: Shutterstock

Initial thoughts on the full results of the ELEVATE TN study of AstraZeneca PLC’s Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor, Calquence (acalabrutinib), administered alone or with the anti-CD20 MAb, obinutuzumab (Roche/Genentech Inc.’s Gazyva), as first-line therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, have alighted on Calquence’s favorable tolerability profile, and the intense competitive pressure likely to arise in the therapeutic segment from a number of BTK inhibitors currently in development.

Such pressures are now also expected to come from Merck & Co. Inc., which announced its intentions earlier this week to acquire the US biotech ArQule Inc., which...

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