NICE recommends zanubrutinib for CLL

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended zanubrutinib as an option for treating chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) in adults. 

Zanubrutinib is recommended as a treatment option for untreated CLL where there is either:

• a 17p deletion or tumour protein 53 (TP53) mutation, or 
• no 17p deletion or TP53 mutation, and treatment with a chemo-immunotherapy regimen (fludarabine plus cyclophosphamide and rituximab, or bendamustine plus rituximab) is unsuitable.

Zanubrutinib is also recommended as a treatment option for CLL that comes back (relapses) or doesn’t respond to treatment (refractory).

Zanubritinib is a type of targeted treatment called a BTK inhibitor. Targeted treatments are medicines that have been specially designed to attack particular proteins on lymphoma cells. BTK inhibitors target and block a protein called Bruton’s tyrosine kinase, which is important for cancer cell survival.

Zanubrutinib is a capsule that you take by mouth once or twice a day. You carry on taking it unless your lymphoma gets worse or you develop side effects that are difficult to cope with.

Find out more about drug development, approval and funding, or visit Lymphoma TrialsLink for the latest on clinical trials for lymphoma.