Idelalisib plus rituximab versus ibrutinib in the treatment of relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukaemia: A real‐world analysis from the Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Patients Registry (CLLEAR)

Summary Idelalisib (idela), a phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase inhibitor, and ibrutinib, a Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor, were the first oral targeted agents approved for relapsed/refractory (R/R) chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). However, no randomised trials of idelalisib plus rituximab (R‐idela) versus ibrutinib have been conducted. Therefore, we performed a real‐world retrospective analysis of patients with R/R CLL treated with R‐idela (n = 171) or ibrutinib (n = 244). The median age was 70 versus 69 years, with a median of two previous lines. There was a trend towards higher tumour protein p53 (TP53) aberrations and complex karyotype in the R‐idela group (53% vs. 44%, p = 0.093; 57% vs. 46%, p = 0.083). The median progression‐free survival (PFS) was significantly longer with ibrutinib (40.5 vs. 22.0 months; p