Closing Thoughts & Future Directions

The final segment brings together overarching themes and offers forward-looking perspectives on CLL care. Panelists reflect on the transformative impact of targeted therapies, noting that most patients now experience long disease control with frontline covalent BTKis and venetoclax-based regimens. However, for those who ultimately progress through these treatments, newly approved and emerging options, such as pirtobrutinib, CAR-T cell therapy, bispecific antibodies, and BTK degraders, are rapidly expanding the therapeutic arsenal.

The panel highlights key unmet needs that will shape future research priorities. Richter’s transformation remains a particularly challenging clinical entity, requiring more effective and accessible therapies. They also emphasize the promise of immunotherapy-based approaches, with early real-world data suggesting potential synergy between CAR-T therapy and targeted agents.

Personalization of therapy remains a major goal. The experts anticipate increasing use of MRD-guided strategies, deeper integration of molecular profiling, and refined sequencing algorithms that better address individual risk. They also stress the importance of balancing efficacy with safety, especially for triplet regimens or combination approaches that may introduce cumulative toxicity.

Finally, the panelists express optimism about the growing number of clinical trials and collaborative efforts in CLL, predicting that 2026 and beyond will bring increasingly sophisticated approaches capable of extending survival and improving quality of life.