Real-world utilization of Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitors in relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia in Australia.

The relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia treatment landscape has continued to evolve with Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor (BTKi) emergence. Alongside extensive clinical trial results, real-world evidence for BTKi use in clinical practice is useful. Yet, published Australian real-world evidence is limited. This retrospective study describes ibrutinib and acalabrutinib use in the Australian real-world context, using data from December 2017 to August 2023 from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) 10% sample dataset. Acalabrutinib and ibrutinib were primarily dispensed in the second-line setting, corresponding to their PBS indications. Between agents, no statistically significant difference was seen in co-medication use or treatment persistence. Acalabrutinib treatment adherence was significantly higher than ibrutinib, despite similar treatment persistence. This may be attributed to dose reductions, unable to be captured by the PBS 10% dataset, which may have impacted ibrutinib adherence results. These data illustrate similar use and treatment persistence of acalabrutinib and ibrutinib in Australian clinical practice.