Researchers found that a combination of ibrutinib and chemotherapy (bendamustine and rituximab, collectively known as BR) reduced the risk of death or cancer progression by 80 percent in people with previously treated chronic lymphocytic leukemia, or CLL (a B-cell cancer found in blood and lymph nodes) or small lymphocytic lymphoma, or SLL (a B-cell cancer found only in lymph nodes), compared to the use of BR alone.

Asher A. Chanan-Khan, M.D., M.B.B.S., comments on Ibrutinib Combined With Bendamustine and Rituximab Compared With Placebo, Bendamustine, and Rituximab for Previously Treated Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia or Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma (HELIOS): A Randomised, Double-Blind, Phase 3 Study, which was published in The Lancet Oncology in February 2016.