What medications are used for chronic lymphocytic leukemia?

What medications are used for chronic lymphocytic leukemia?

Healthcare providers may also prescribe medication or infusion therapy for CLL, such as:

• BCL2 inhibitor therapy: This medicine blocks BCL2, a protein found on leukemia cells. This treatment can destroy leukemia cells or make them more sensitive to other cancer drugs.
• Monoclonal antibody therapy: Healthcare providers create monoclonal antibodies in a lab. These antibodies attach to cancer cells. The antibodies block cancer cells’ growth or destroy the cells. Examples of monoclonal antibody therapy medications include rituximab (Rituxan®), ofatumumab (Arzerra®) or obinutuzumab (Gazyva®).
• Tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy: This treatment blocks the enzymes that cause stem cells to develop into excess white blood cells. Examples of TKIs include ibrutinib (Imbruvica®), acalabrutinib (Calquence®), idelalisib (Zydelig®) and duvelisib (Copiktra®).