Overview of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Simon Rule, MD from Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, UK provides an overview of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitors (BTK) in chronic lymphocytic leukemia, presented at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2015 Annual Meeting, in Orlando, FL. These include drugs such as BGB-3111, being developed in China; ONO-4059, being developed in Japan; acalabrutinib (ACP-196), being developed in the USA. Prof. Rule also discusses the side-effects of these novel BTK inhibitors and potential use of these drugs in combination with other therapies, such as venetoclax (ABT-199), a Bcl-2 inhibitor.