Novartis announced longer-term follow-up data from the Phase III ASCEMBL trial for patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase (Ph+ CML-CP) previously treated with two or more tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), presented at the 2022 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting.

In this analysis, the proportion of patients in the Scemblix (asciminib) arm achieved a major molecular response (MMR) at 96 weeks was more than double that in the Bosulif (bosutinib) arm. Additionally, the probability of maintaining MMR for at least 72 weeks for patients treated with Scemblix was 96.7, reflecting long-term durability of efficacy.

“In a chronic cancer where resistance can develop to many of the existing therapies, or where patients can have their quality of life negatively impacted by treatment side effects over time, it’s encouraging to see sustained and increasing efficacy with consistent adequate tolerability for patients treated with Scemblix in the longer term,” said Jorge E. Cortes, MD, Director, Georgia Cancer Center, Augusta University. “This 96-week data shows the potential of Scemblix and its unique mechanism of action to help change the treatment paradigm in CML.”

Scemblix is the first FDA-approved CML treatment that works by binding to the ABL myristoyl pocket3. With this novel mechanism of action, it is also known in scientific literature as STAMP inhibitor, Scemblix can help address resistance to TKI therapy in patients with Ph+ CML-CP and overcome mutations at the defective BCR-ABL1 gene, which is associated with the over-production of leukemic cells2,4-10. Scemblix continues to be studied across multiple lines of treatment for CML-CP11-18.