Prevalence and Economic Burden of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) in the Era of Oral Targeted Therapies.

This has been a banner year for developments in the treatment of CLL. In this last week of 2015 on the  CLL Society website, in our  Conference Coverage section, we share an interview from ASH 2015 with Dr. Nitin Jain where he discusses the Prevalence and Economic Burden of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) in the Era of Oral Targeted Therapies. The success of the latest targeted therapies has increased the number of patients who are living with CLL (prevalence), but what is the economic burden of these therapies? You can view my interview with him here. Last week, we published our second quarterly newsletter, The CLL Tribune. Don't miss this special collection of research news (Dr. Byrd's interview about ACP-196) in Conference Coverage, Dr. Furman's answers to reader's questions in Ask the Doctor, basic CLL information (What is a Lymph Node?), fun facts and a wealth of wisdom and shared experiences from our fellow patients. If you are receiving this information for the first time here, you are missing out on a lot of research news, so please consider signing up to receive it here. That said, all our content is accessible whether you sign in or not If you have questions you like addressed in future newsletters, OR are interested in the results of the Q3 Reader Poll, OR are willing to answer a couple of questions in our current Reader Poll about the CLL Society website, please go to the  Ask & Tell section. Our goal is to fulfill the unmet needs of the CLL community, so we always welcome your feedback and questions. For those of you in the Charlotte or Atlanta areas, we just became aware of 2 patient meetings coming up in February: Thursday, February 4th in Charlotte starting at 5:30 PM at the Hampton Inn & Suites Charlotte (View Charlotte flyer), and Saturday, February 27th starting at 9:30 AM at the Sheraton Suites Galleria-Atlanta (View Atlanta flyer). CLL patients will be sharing their personal stories, and local CLL experts will be providing a talk on the basics of CLL. You can call 844-482-6815 to register. Complimentary breakfast and parking  are provided and you are welcome to bring a guest. I will be at both meetings with an exhibit table and will stay afterwards to meet with attendees who may be interested in participating in a support group in those areas. I look forward to meeting you there. Happy New Year! Stay strong. We are all in this together Brian Koffman

PS: I easily passed my family medicine recertification exams, despite doing little family medicine continuing education and mostly hematology for the last 10 years. Next exams in 10 more years.