Management of chronic myeloid leukemia in 2023 – common ground and common sense

With the improving knowledge of CML and its management, the goals of therapy need to be revisited to ensure an optimal use of the BCR::ABL1 TKIs in the frontline and later-line therapy of CML. In the frontline therapy of CML in the chronic phase (CML-CP), imatinib and the three second-generation TKIs (bosutinib, dasatinib and nilotinib) are associated with comparable survival results. The second-generation TKIs may produce earlier deep molecular responses, hence reducing the time to reaching a treatment-free remission (TFR). The choice of the second-generation TKI versus imatinib in frontline therapy is based on the treatment aims (survival, TFR), the CML risk, the drug cost, and the toxicity profile with respect to the patient’s comorbidities. The TKI dosing is more flexible than has been described in the registration trials, and dose adjustments can be considered both in the frontline and later-line settings (e.g., dasatinib 50 mg frontline therapy; dose adjusted schedules of bosutinib and ponatinib), as well as during an ongoing TKI therapy to manage toxicities, before considering changing the TKI. In patients who are not candidates for TFR, BCR::ABL1 (International Scale) transcripts levels <1% are acceptable, result in virtually similar survival as with deeper molecular remissions, and need not warrant a change of TKI. For patients with true resistance to second-generation TKIs or with the T315I gatekeeper mutation, the third-generation TKIs are preferred. Ponatinib should be considered first because of the cumulative experience and results in the CML subsets, including in T315I-mutated CML. A response-based dosing of ponatinib is safe and leads to high TKI compliance. Asciminib is a third-generation TKI with possibly a better toxicity profile, but lesser activity in T315I-mutated CML. Olverembatinib is another potent third-generation TKI with early promising results.