Overview 

Treatments for chronic lymphocytic leukemia are usually classified as fixed-duration or continuous-duration therapies. 

Fixed-duration therapies are administered over a set period and then discontinued, meaning the patient receives them only for a predesignated period. Because most CLL patients achieve remission from fixed-duration therapies, this one-and-done approach allows patients to have a treatment break until new therapy is needed.

In this guide section, you'll first learn how venetoclax and monoclonal antibodies work and are administered. Then, we'll review how effective venetoclax combinations are and their common side effects. This is followed by learning about CAR T-cell therapy for CLL. 

Current FDA-approved fixed-duration CLL therapies include:

• A non-chemotherapy combination of venetoclax (Venclexta, AbbVie) in combination with obinutuzumab (Gazyva, Genentech) for one year
• Venetoclax in combination with rituximab (Rituxan, Genentech) as a second or subsequent line of therapy for two years
• CAR T-cell therapy liso-cel (Breyanzi, BMS) as a third-line treatment