Is Rocbrutinib a New Option for CLL Patients? Phase 1 Trial Updates | Jennifer Woyach, MD

My name is Jennifer Wyack. I'm a CLL doctor at The Ohio State University. At ASH 2025, I was able to present updated data with a new drug called Rockbrutinib or LP168, which is being investigated for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia or CLL, as well as other blood cancers involving B lymphocytes. So Rockbrutinib is a new type of Brutin's tyrosine kinase or BTK inhibitor, and it has a very unique mechanism. So if BTK is not mutated, so it's kind of in its normal status, Rockbrutinib will bind to it covalently or irreversibly, similar to the way that drugs like Ibrutinib, A. calibrutinib, and Xanibrutinib bind. However, if BTK becomes mutated, which generally can make patients CLL resistant to those BTK inhibitors, Rockbrutinib can actually bind in a different manner, similar to how non-covalent or reversible inhibitors like pyrtobrutinib bind. And really importantly, in the lab and in our early clinical experience, Rockbrutinib can actually overcome resistance to drugs like pyrtobrutinib too. So a very exciting new drug. So we were looking in this study, this is a first in human phase one clinical trial, which included 42 patients with CLL. When looking at doses of 200 milligrams or higher, the response rate was over 70%. We did not find any dose-limiting toxicity, so the drug was well tolerated up to the maximum dose that was tested. And we now have patients that are treated up to four years. So we have a median or average follow-up of 30 months, and the median progression free survival is 28 months, which is pretty exciting for a CLL that has been very heavily pretreated. Rockbrutinib is a very selective drug, so it has been very well tolerated. Most of the side effects are relatively low grade, so not very significant. Only one person developed atrial fibrillation, which is something that we see with other BtK inhibitors, and only one patient had a more significant bleeding event. So this drug again looks very promising in CLL. We're looking forward to larger clinical trials and combination studies, which are currently in development. If our videos have helped you in any way, and you're able to, please consider making a donation to help us continue this important work. Your gift will go three times as far when we reach $500,000 by the end of the year. Every contribution, big or small, makes a difference, and we're deeply grateful for your support.