Global biopharma leader Eli Lilly has announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted full approval to Jaypirca for adults with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) who have previously been treated with a covalent Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor. 

 

The approval of pirtobrutinib, 100 mg & 50 mg expands the drug’s label to include patients earlier in their treatment journey and converts its December 2023 accelerated approval for later-line therapy into traditional FDA approval.

 

“Pirtobrutinib is the only medicine in CLL or SLL that has been prospectively studied in a randomized trial of patients previously treated with a covalent BTK inhibitor, and I am excited to see this expanded FDA approval recognize the benefit it can deliver to this broader group of patients,” said Jeff Sharman, Disease Chair, Hematology Executive Committees, SCRI at Willamette Valley Cancer Institute and Research Center, and principal investigator of the BRUIN CLL-321 trial. 

 

“When covalent BTK inhibitors are no longer an option due to disease progression or intolerance, pirtobrutinib enables physicians to extend the benefits of targeting the BTK pathway, offering continuity in the CLL or SLL treatment experience.”

 

Jaypirca is the first and only FDA-approved non-covalent (reversible) BTK inhibitor, offering a highly selective mechanism to extend BTK pathway targeting in patients who have previously received covalent BTK inhibitors, including ibrutinib, acalabrutinib, or zanubrutinib.

 

“This label expansion allows physicians to use Jaypirca directly after a covalent BTK inhibitor, the setting where we have always believed it has its most unique potential impact for patients,” said Jacob Van Naarden, executive vice president and president of Lilly Oncology. 

 

“With robust efficacy and safety evidence from the only study of its kind in the post-covalent BTK inhibitor treatment setting, we're proud to now offer this therapy to more patients with CLL or SLL at an earlier stage of their treatment plan.”

 

“For CLL or SLL patients who progress following treatment with an irreversible or covalently binding BTK inhibitor, having additional therapeutic options is critical,” said Brian Koffman, co-founder and chief medical officer emeritus at CLL Society. 

 

“With this approval, physicians and patients can stay in the same broad class of medicines with a treatment that offers meaningful impact on patient outcomes, saving the potential to use medicines with different targets for later therapy.”