Considering TASIGNA as your first treatment?
Learn why patients recently diagnosed with Ph+ CML in chronic phase are starting on TASIGNA
Treatment Milestones in Ph+ CML
Setting treatment goals with your doctor.
By working closely with your doctor, you can learn how medication may help you reach your treatment goals for Philadelphia chromosome–positive chronic myeloid leukemia (Ph+ CML).
Achieving a response
Every patient is unique and your doctor will need to discuss the treatment goals that are within your reach. Some common goals include:
- Getting your blood cell counts back within normal ranges
- Reducing the number of leukemic cells in your body
- Reducing the amount of the BCR-ABL protein to a level that is undetectable
- Remaining in the chronic phase of Ph+ CML and not progressing to the accelerated phase or blast phase
Your doctor may talk about achieving what’s called a “molecular response.” This means the number of cells in your body with the BCR-ABL1 gene is going down. The lower the number of cells, the better.
Treatment milestones in Ph+ CML
Once you begin treatment for Ph+ CML, your doctor will have you go for routine blood and bone marrow tests. These tests can help your doctor see how you are responding to your medication. They can also help your doctor determine if you are reaching certain treatment milestones in Ph+ CML.
Your doctor will measure your response to treatment based on the amount of BCR-ABL1 in your blood. The BCR-ABL protein causes the production of leukemic cells.
Treatment Milestones Timeline
The milestones timeline below shows an ideal response to treatment, which your doctor may discuss with you. The illustrations are designed to help you picture how your blood counts may come down over time with treatment. The dots represent the number of BCR-ABL1 cells in the body.
Keep in mind, not every patient will reach these treatment milestones or reach them at the same time.
At diagnosis: Baseline
- Initial tests likely show a high level of blood cells with the abnormal gene BCR-ABL1
- Your doctor will use this number as a baseline — or starting point. Baseline is considered BCR-ABL1 100%. This means that 100 out of 100 cells have the BCR-ABL1 gene
At 3 months and 6 months on treatment
- Your doctor may see if you have an early molecular response
- This means the amount of BCR-ABL1 is less than or equal to (≤) 10% of all the cells in your blood compared to baseline. In this case, 10 out of every 100 cells have the BCR-ABL1 gene
At 12 months on treatment
- Your doctor may see if you've had a complete cytogenetic response (CCyR)
- This means the amount of BCR-ABL1 is ≤1% of all the cells in your blood. In other words, 1 out of every 100 cells has the BCR-ABL1 gene compared to baseline
At 12 months on treatment
- Your doctor may see if you have achieved major molecular response (MMR)
- With MMR, the amount of BCR-ABL1 in the blood is 0.1%. This means that 1 out of every 1,000 cells has the BCR-ABL1 gene
Identifying a deep molecular response
Your doctor may look for another treatment result called a deep molecular response (DMR) or MR4.5. Your doctor may check to see if you reach this milestone by 5 years.
With DMR, the amount of BCR-ABL1 is considered undetectable or ≤0.0032% of all the cells in your blood. This means that 1 out of every 32,000 cells or fewer has the BCR-ABL1 gene.
TASIGNA may help you reach your treatment goals
Talk to your doctor to determine the treatment goals that are within your reach and how TASIGNA® (nilotinib) capsules may help you get there. Learn more
