A Phase 2 interventional study of Ibrutinib / Bortezomib / Rituximab in Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia, sponsored by Christian Buske. Active, not recruiting at 12 sites in 2 countries. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-12-05.
Sponsored by Christian Buske · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment
Among 25 studies testing ibrutinib in Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia — 2 open to participants now, 7 under way, 2 of them phase 3. ibrutinib · Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia.
Among the 25 studies testing ibrutinib in Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia, this one is the 12th largest by enrollment, is one of 3 that started in 2019, is one of 11 in phase 2, and was the 15th registered.
524 studies on the registry are indexed under Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia; 62 are open to participants now.
Browse Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia studies →2 of the 25 studies testing ibrutinib in Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia are open now, in 1 country. Recruiting first, the newest first:
University College, London · Sites in United Kingdom
Institute of Hematology & Blood Diseases Hospital, China
By country, each count listing its studies:
ibrutinib: first FDA approval 2013 (IMBRUVICA), first EMA approval 2014. What it is approved for, and how studies give it, is on its page →
Of the 48 Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia studies recruiting now, 44 (92%) set no upper age limit and 1 (2%) stop at 75 or younger; 2 take children under 18; 0 take healthy volunteers.
This study: 18 Years and older · all sexes · no healthy volunteers.
The full table on the hub →This tab as a report to print or save as PDF → With an account.
25 studies; the count open now beside each. This study's row is marked.
A study in two phases is counted once above. Listed by phase, each with its combined phases: Phase 1 8 · Phase 2 13 · Phase 3 5 · Phase 4 1
First in 2009; this study’s year is marked. 3 started in 2019.
This study's enrollment of 53 is above the median of 39 across 429 interventional studies indexed under Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia.
Median enrollment 48 across the 25 interventional studies. Of the 15 that completed or were terminated, 10 (67%) have results posted.
This tab as a report to print or save as PDF → With an account.
9 of 25 have an industry lead sponsor. The 10 most frequent:
Christian Buske is the lead sponsor of 5 studies on the registry; 1 is open to participants now.
Christian Buske has 3 studies filed under Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia — fewer than ten, so there is no comparison to draw.
2 of the studies testing ibrutinib in Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia that are under way reach primary completion within a year, 1 of them phase 3. Phase 3 first, then by date:
| Study | Primary completion |
|---|---|
| NCT01804686Phase 3Janssen Research & Development, LLCA Long-term Extension Study of PCI-32765 (Ibrutinib) | 2026-12-31 |
| NCT01479842Kami Maddocks, MDRituxan/Bendamustine/PCI-32765 in Relapsed DLBCL, MCL, or Indolent Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma | 2026-12-01 |
Among the 25 studies testing ibrutinib in Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia, from their registry updates:
Nothing recorded among them since 2026-09-25.
This tab as a report to print or save as PDF → With an account.
In Waldenström macroglobulinemia (WM) conventional chemotherapy induces only low complete remission (CR) rates and responses of short duration compared to other indolent lymphomas. Thus innovative approaches are needed which combine excellent activity and tolerability in patients with WM, who are mostly of advanced age. The immunochemotherapy DRC (dexamethasone, rituximab, cyclophosphamide) was shown to be highly effective in patients with WM without inducing major hematological toxicities. On the other hand the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib showed substantial activity as a single agent in WM with only very few side effects when given in a weekly schedule. Recent data confirmed high activity with low toxicity for ibrutinib in relapsed WM patients as single agent therapy. Based on these observations it is the aim of this study to investigate the efficacy and toxicity of the chemotherapy-free combination bortezomib, rituximab, ibrutinib (B-RI) in treatment naïve WM patient.
In Waldenström's macroglobulinemia (WM) conventional chemotherapy induces only low complete remission (CR) rates and responses of short duration compared to other indolent lymphomas. Thus innovative approaches are needed which combine excellent activity and tolerability in patients with WM, who are mostly of advanced age. Today, chemotherapy in combination with the anti-cluster of differentiation (CD) 20 antibody rituximab is still the backbone of treatment in patients with WM and is recommended as first line in national and international treatment guidelines. With the approval of Ibrutinib by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) 2015 for patients with relapsed WM or for patients not eligible for chemotherapy with treatment naïve WM treatment landscape has changed in this lymphoma subtype and there is an urgent need to evaluate to which extent chemotherapy-free approaches add clinical benefit to the patient. The treatment in the "European Consortium for Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia" (ECWM)-2 trial will test, whether the chemotherapy-free approach, which is given orally (ibrutinib) and subcutaneously (bortezomib and rituximab from cycle 2 onwards) (B-RI) will approach the efficacy of chemotherapy containing treatment concepts, but avoids chemotherapy associated toxicity. From the perspective of single agent ibrutinib, this regimen tests whether ibrutinib can be further optimized by adding rituximab and bortezomib. The combination of rituximab and ibrutinib was tested in comparison to rituximab/placebo in a large international phase III trial on behalf of the European Consortium for Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia in relapsed and first line WM, and results were recently published: in this trial no unexpected toxicity of the combination ibrutinib/rituximab was reported. Furthermore, ibrutinib/rituximab was significantly superior to rituximab/placebo with regard to response rates and PFS. From the perspective of the established rituximab/bortezomib regimen, the combination of B-RI will evaluate whether adding ibrutinib to this combination will add any benefit for the patient.
To this end, the aim of the study is to assess the toxicity and efficacy of B-RI in an exploratory phase II trial.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Presence of at least one criterion for initiation of therapy, according to the 2nd Workshop on WM:
Other criteria:
Meet the following pretreatment laboratory criteria at the Screening visit conducted within 28 days of study enrollment:
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).
Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.
A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.
Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.
The study doctor’s estimate of how long someone is likely to live. Criteria use it so that people can stay in the study long enough for it to answer its question.
The number of neutrophils, white blood cells that help fight infection, in a given amount of blood. Too few raises the risk of infection.
It is a count, not a percentage of the white cells. Limits are written in units that mean the same: ≥ 1.5 × 10⁹/L is ≥ 1,500 per mm³ (µL). Each lab has its own reference range.
Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.
Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.
A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.
Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.
GFR (glomerular filtration rate) is how much blood the kidneys filter each minute. It is usually estimated from a blood test — eGFR, by formulas such as CKD-EPI or MDRD — and some studies ask for it to be measured directly instead. Usually given in mL/min/1.73 m².
Check the method, the units and the minimum the study states. A value of 90 or above is in the normal-or-high range, but kidney damage can show in other tests too.
Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.
Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.
The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.
Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.
Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.
After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.
Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.
Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.
The New York Heart Association’s four classes of how much heart failure limits physical activity.
Studies set their own limit — many outside heart failure leave out class III–IV, while heart failure studies may ask for a particular class. Check the class this study names.
Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.
Cancer (malignancy)
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Hemoglobin (Hb)
The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Platelets
Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
ECOG performance status
A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.
Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Life expectancy
The study doctor’s estimate of how long someone is likely to live. Criteria use it so that people can stay in the study long enough for it to answer its question.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Absolute neutrophil count (ANC)
The number of neutrophils, white blood cells that help fight infection, in a given amount of blood. Too few raises the risk of infection.
It is a count, not a percentage of the white cells. Limits are written in units that mean the same: ≥ 1.5 × 10⁹/L is ≥ 1,500 per mm³ (µL). Each lab has its own reference range.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
ALT and AST (liver enzymes)
Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.
Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Bilirubin
A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.
Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
GFR and eGFR (kidney filtering)
GFR (glomerular filtration rate) is how much blood the kidneys filter each minute. It is usually estimated from a blood test — eGFR, by formulas such as CKD-EPI or MDRD — and some studies ask for it to be measured directly instead. Usually given in mL/min/1.73 m².
Check the method, the units and the minimum the study states. A value of 90 or above is in the normal-or-high range, but kidney damage can show in other tests too.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Contraception
Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.
Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Corticosteroids (steroids)
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Hypersensitivity
An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
HIV
The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.
Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Hepatitis C tests
Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.
After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Hepatitis B tests
Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.
Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
NYHA class (heart failure)
The New York Heart Association’s four classes of how much heart failure limits physical activity.
Studies set their own limit — many outside heart failure leave out class III–IV, while heart failure studies may ask for a particular class. Check the class this study names.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Clinically significant
Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Cycle 1: Rituximab: 375 mg/m2 intravenously (i.v) day 1; Bortezomib:1.6 mg/ m2 subcutanously (SC) day 1,8,15; Ibrutinib: 420 mg orally (p.o.) day 1-28; Cycle 2-6 Rituximab: 1400 mg absolute SC day 1; Bortezomib:1.6 mg/ m2 SC day 1,8,15; Ibrutinib: 420 mg p.o. day 1-28; Maintenance I (1 cycle = 56 days): Ibrutinib 420 mg p.o. daily, until evidence of progressive disease or no longer tolerated by the subject (for a maximum of 10 years); Rituximab 1400 mg absolute SC day 1, every second month for 24 months (month 7-30); Maintenance II (1 cycle = 84 days): Ibrutinib 420 mg p.o. daily, until evidence of progressive disease or no longer tolerated by the subject (for a maximum of 10 years);
Drug: Ibrutinib / Bortezomib / Rituximab
Drug pages: Ibrutinib · Bortezomib · Rituximab
Induction (Rituximab / Bortezomib / Ibrutinib), Maintenance I (Ibrutinib / Rituximab), Maintenance II (Ibrutinib)
Also known as: Imbruvica / Velcade / Mabthera
1 year progression free survival
The primary endpoint is the rate of 1 year progression free survival (1YPFS).
Time frame: 1 year
Response rate
response rates (CR, VGPR, PR, MR) and overall response rate (CR, VGPR, PR, MR)
Time frame: 6 months
Best response
At least achieving a MR
Time frame: up to 10 years
Time to best response
time from the start of induction to best response the patient achieves (CR, VGPR, PR, MR).
Time frame: up to 10 years
Time to first response
time from the start of induction to first response (MR, PR, VGPR or CR).
Time frame: up to 10 years
Time to Treatment failure (TTF)
time of start of induction treatment to discontinuation of therapy for any reason including death from any cause, progression, toxicity or add-on of new anti-cancer therapy.
Time frame: up to 10 years
Remission duration (RD)
patients with response (CR, VGPR, PR, MR) from the date of response to the date of progression, relapse or death from any cause.
Time frame: up to 10 years
Progression Free Survival (PFS)
date of start of treatment to the following events: the date of progression and the date of death if it occurred earlier.
Time frame: up to 10 years
Cause specific survival (CSS)
period from the start of induction treatment to death from lymphoma or lymphoma related cause
Time frame: up to 10 years
Overall survival (OS)
period from the start of induction treatment to death from any cause.
Time frame: up to 10 years
Safety Analysis
Safety including treatment associated adverse events.
Time frame: up to 10 years
Plan to share: No
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Ran from Sep 2019 to primary completion in Nov 2022, 38 months.
Of 55 non-industry phase 2 interventional studies under Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia, half reached primary completion within 67 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 45 and three quarters within 103. This study's 38 months is below that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 66 studies reached it within 64 months; a quarter within 45 and three quarters within 103.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
This study is active, not recruiting, as verified in Nov 2025. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.
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Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.
Studies of the drugs tested here: Ibrutinib · Bortezomib · Rituximab
Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia →
Christian Buske