New Agents to Treat Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

To the Editor: Roberts et al. (Jan. 28 issue) 1 describe improved outcomes for patients with relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who were treated with venetoclax, a drug that targets BCL2 protein. Patients with CLL are known to have skeletal problems. Data for 21,015 patients recently presented at the 57th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology convincingly showed that even untreated patients with CLL have poor bone health and a significantly increased risk of fracture, particularly of the spine and pelvis. 2 Suppression of BCL2 has been shown to accelerate osteoblast differentiation and improve bone health when tested in preclinical . . .