Venclexta (venetoclax) is effective for both CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia) and AML (acute myeloid leukemia) with trials reporting significantly more people experiencing complete remission with Venclexta in combination with other treatments compared to standard therapy. Venclexta works quickly as well, with it taking an average of one month for many people to experience a reduction in disease progression.

How effective is Venclexta for CLL?

In a trial that compared Venclexta plus Obinutuzumab (V+O) compared to Obinutuzumab plus chlorambucil (O+C), after an average of 28 months (range 0 to 36 months):

• 13% of people in the V+O group experienced an event compared with 37% in the O+C group
• Disease progression was experienced by 6% of people in the V+O group compared to 33% of people in the O+C group
• 7% of people in the V+O group died compared with 4% in the O+C group
• The overall response rate was 85% in the V+O group compared to 71% in the O+C group
• Complete remission was experienced by 46% in the V+O group compared with 22% in the O+C group.

The Murano trial compared Venclexta in combination with rituximab (VEN+R) versus bendamustine in combination with rituximab (B+R) with a median follow up of 23.4 months:

• 13% experienced disease progression in the VEN + R group compared to 47% in the B+R group
• 9 people (out of 194) died in the VEN + R group compared with 15 out of 195 in the B+R group
• The overall response rate was 92% in the VEN + R vs 72% in the B+R group.
• When Venclexta is given as the only therapy, trials report the overall response rate to be 70% to 80% with complete remission experienced by about 6%.

How fast does Venclexta work for CLL?

The average time to response was 0.8 months (range 0.1 to 8.1 months). This is an average of 24 days.

The duration of response ranged from 2.4 to 52.4 months.

How effective is Venclexta for AML?

Two trials investigated how effective Venclexta was for AML in patients over the age of 75 years who weren’t able to receive intensive induction chemotherapy for one of several reasons.

One trial compared Venclexta in combination with azacytidine (V+A) compared to Venclexta in combination with decitabine (V + d)

Complete remission was experienced by 37% of people in the V+A group compared to 54% in the V+D group. For patients who achieved a CR, the median observed time in remission was 5.5 months (range: 0.4 to 30 months).

When Venclexta was used in combination with low-dose cytarabine, 21% experienced a clinical remission. The median observed time in remission was 6.0 months (range: 0.03 to 25 months).

How fast does Venclexta work for AML?

It took an average of one month (range 0.7 to 8.9 months) for patients to experience a clinical remission in patients assigned to V+A.

It took an average of 1.9 months (range 0.8 to 4.2 months) for patients to experience a clinical remission in patients assigned to V+D.

It took an average of one month (range 0.8 to 9.4 months) for patients to experience a clinical remission in patients assigned to V + low-dose cytarabine.