Asciminib provides another option to help CML patients live longer, healthier lives
Rye Brook, N.Y., December 6, 2024 – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved asciminib (Scemblix®) to treat people with newly diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome positive chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).
The treatment of CML was transformed in 2001 with the approval imatinib (Gleevec), the first oral medication that inhibited a protein called BCR-ABL that CML needs to grow. LLS was instrumental in supporting research into imatinib, which today allows many people with CML to live a normal, active life span. While imatinib has been used by hundreds of thousands of patients successfully, some develop resistance, have an incomplete response, or discontinue treatment due to side-effects.
Asciminib, which inhibits BCR-ABL through a unique mechanism, was first approved by the FDA in 2021 because it showed a superior response in patients who no longer responded to imatinib or other related treatments.
This new approval has been granted by the FDA because asciminib now shows superior efficacy and safety compared to other approved BCR-ABL inhibitors when used as initial therapy in newly diagnosed patients.
“At LLS, we are very proud of our contributions to CML care, and the fact that mortality rates have declined more than 80% since our founding,” says Dr. Greenberger. “Today we are still working to lower mortality rates and importantly, to improve the quality of life of CML and all blood cancer patients. The stories about transformative medicines for CML, like Gleevec and now asciminib, is one of the many great success stories of LLS since its inception in 1949 and the cancer community,”
If you or a loved one need personalized disease, treatment or support information, you can contact one of our Information Specialists: https://www.lls.org/support-resources/information-specialists