Jorge Cortes, MD, Shares Data on Asciminib Versus TKIs in CML

Dr. Cortes, Director of the Georgia Cancer Center at Augusta University, discusses the ASC4FIRST trial on asciminib for newly diagnosed chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) presented at the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Patients were randomized to receive either asciminib or one of the currently approved tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), such as imatinib, dasatinib, nilotinib, or bosutinib. The primary endpoint was major molecular response at 48 weeks.

The rate of response was “significantly higher” with asciminib compared with all other treatment options, Dr. Cortes explained.

“There was also a trend for improvement in the deeper molecular responses, those being MR4 and MR4.5, which were secondary endpoints,” he added. “All the endpoints favored asciminib.”

Asciminib also had a superior safety profile, with fewer patients discontinuing treatment due to toxicity.

“These very favorable results suggest an improved risk-benefit ratio with asciminib compared with the established [TKIs],” Dr. Cortes said. “This could be a new advance in the standard treatment for patients with chronic phase CML as initial therapy.”