Ibrutinib: 10 years and counting

In this issue of Blood, Itsara et al 1 report the 10-year follow-up of the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) with the first-in-class covalent Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor (BTKi), ibrutinib, demonstrating a median progression-free survival (PFS) of 9 years in front line and 4.1 years in relapsed CLL.Unexpectedly 15.5% of patients achieved undetectable minimal residual disease (uMRD) at a median of 5 years.The study was enriched in patients with multihit TP53 aberration, whose survival outcomes were improved compared to historical data but were still shorter than those without the TP53 aberration. 1