The Implications of CML Data From ASH, And Important Takeaways for Providers
Kendra Sweet, MD, examined how the data surrounding asciminib in chronic myeloid leukemia will affect the standard of care treatment options.
Kendra Sweet, MD, spoke with CancerNetwork® after the Face-Off program to review the use of asciminib (Scemblix) vs ponatinib in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).
Transcript:
We’re still going to be waiting for the results on this, but asciminib is sparking people’s interest and is still being studied in a variety of different settings. The frontline data with asciminib came from Australia and is looking encouraging as far as early deep molecular responses. It still stands to be seen how that’s going to impact later outcomes, like the ability to try at TKI [tyrosine kinase inhibitor] cessation, and then treatment-free remission. That generates some excitement across the field, and then the potential for combination with asciminib with other TKIs in a potentially refractory group of patients, which could also be a new strategy that I think many people are thinking about. Where things are being studied the most is where to move asciminib and how to move it up in lines of therapy and where it’s going to play out and be more effective than what we currently have, potentially.
The OPTIC trial is important as far as impacting practice, just knowing that the safety of ponatinib can be improved by response-based dose adjustments without losing the efficacy of the drug. That is something that many of us have already adopted the practice of. If we can get that message out to more people in the community who are using ponatinib with their patients, it’s an important message that once patients have responded nicely, dose reductions are important. Again, with asciminib and where to place it and how to place it. We’re still learning, and the jury’s still out on that. Those trials are all being done, and it’s going to be exciting to see where those lands.
