February 16, 2021

Dear Readers,

Our CLL community has a big heart. That includes you, both as a receiver and a giver of goodwill. Take all that CLL Society offers. Give back in any way that you can. We all need giving and receiving to stay alive. We need both kinds of hearts. Happy Valentine’s Day!

COVID-19 takes top priority in this edition of the Tuesday Weekly Alert. The first reason is that opportunities are becoming available for CLL patients (vaccinated or not) to participate in studies designed to determine how well CLL patients will respond to COVID-19 vaccinations.

Trials of COVID Vaccines in CLL

Many CLL patients have reached out to CLL Society inquiring if clinical trials are studying CLL patient responses to the COVID-19 vaccine. We have great news, the time we have been waiting for has come. Information on current and upcoming clinical trials directed towards filling this critical data gap can be found here. We will publish updates as they become available.

The second reason is that you will not want to miss CLL Society’s upcoming March 26 COVID-19 Virtual Community Meeting!

COVID-19 Virtual Community Meeting

Join us on Friday, March 26, 2021 (11:00 AM PT, 12:00 PM MT, 1:00 PM CT, and 2:00 PM ET) for CLL Society’s Virtual Community COVID-19 Meeting: Contagion, Variants, and Vaccines. As the global COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage in 2021 and vaccination distribution challenges continue, we have invited CLL experts Drs. Steve Rosen and Alexey Danilov, infectious disease physician Dr. Sanjeet Dadwal, lab scientist Dr. Susan Leclair, and CLL Society’s own Dr. Brian Koffman to bring you up-to-date information. It is critical that CLL patients and their caregivers receive credible COVID-19 information from different expert voices. Our expert panelists will answer audience questions. Register hereand submit your questions!

The third reason is that you can still take action to help get CLL patients vaccinated as soon as possible.

Vaccination Prioritization Campaign

Your chance to do a good deed! You can help move immunosuppressed blood cancer patients to the head of the vaccination line. Click, fill, send!

While the actions of individuals are critically important, the actions of groups garner even greater notice.

CLL Society Advocacy Efforts

CLL Society has been working diligently to make our collective voices known. We have heard from our community loud and clear concerning the need for blood cancer patients to be eligible in much earlier phases of vaccine distribution efforts! Please read our Summary of CLL Society’s COVID-19 Vaccine Advocacy Effortshere.

We have had success in New York and California, which both announced last week that they are opening vaccinations to all of those with CLL and other high-risk conditions! Now the challenge remains in finding an open slot to get the vaccine.

Passing of Bill Ludwig – First (CLL) CAR-T Patient

We are saddened to learn that the first CLL patient to receive CAR-T has passed due to COVID-19 infection. Brave patients entering clinical trials can dramatically move medical science forward. We honor his memory here.

ASH 2020 Conference Coverage

Can APR-246 restore the wild-type function of the TP53 gene? Dr. Meghan Thompson discusses this here.

In Case You Missed It

On Demand – February 4th Ed Forum: ASH 2020 Comes to You

CLL Society was delighted to feature Drs. Mato and Wierda presenting and explaining the research they presented at ASH 2020. Dr. Mato explained the excitement around LOXO-305, as well as a one pill triple combination therapy targeting Richter’s Transformation. Dr. Wierda explained the TRANSCEND CAR-T study using Liso-cel (JCAR017) in combination with ibrutinib, and presented updated data from the MRD Cohort of the CAPTIVATE Study. Also Dr. Koffman quickly reviews several other important CLL abstracts. Check it out and enjoy the replay!

CLL Society is the only CLL-specific, physician-curated public charity dedicated to meeting the unmet needs of CLL patients and their caregivers which holds the GuideStar Platinum Seal of Transparency.

We are all in this together.

Patty Koffman
Co-Founder & Communications Director
CLL Society

CLL Society Support Group Meetings Coming Up!

CLL Society Support Group meetings have moved to a virtual platform for most locations due to the threat of coronavirus. Support group members will receive an invitation to register for the meeting from the support group facilitator. If you are new to the group, please contact the RSVP email for the Support Group in your region. Once it is safe again, we will resume in-person meetings.

Visit the individual event listings on our website for the most up-to-date information on all CLL Society Support Group meetings.