Treatments for patients with CML include
- Targeted therapy (i.e., TKIs)
- Chemotherapy
- ASCT
- Combinations of the above treatments
The treatment selected for patients depends on which CML phase they are in:
Chronic phase:
- Main treatment in this phase is any of the five TKIs (imatinib, nilotinib, dasatinib, bosutinib and ponatinib).
- The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has approved these drugs in the UK. They are also recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
Accelerated phase:
- Initial treatment is one of the newer generation TKIs such as dasatinib or ponatinib to reduce the symptoms of CML.
Follow-up treatment is an early ASCT if possible.
Blast phase:
- Treatment with the TKI ponatinib combined with chemotherapy, followed by an ASCT following complete response.
