Immunotherapy combo shows promise for Tough-to-Treat blood cancers

This phase 2 trial tested the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab (Keytruda) alone or combined with idelalisib or ibrutinib in 65 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or low-grade B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) that had returned or stopped responding to treatment. The goal was to see if these treatments could shrink tumors or stop the cancer from growing. The study is now complete, and results will help determine if this approach is worth further study.