INTRODUCTION

Patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CP-CML) failing 1st line imatinib are most commonly treated with the second-generation (2G) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) dasatinib and nilotinib. However, for patients who experience resistance or intolerance (R/I) to 2G-TKIs in 2nd line, there currently is no consensus on the optimal therapy sequence for 3rd line treatment. The comparative efficacy of using ponatinib in the 3rd line after 2G TKI failure was examined in a previous study (Lipton et al., ASH 2013). This study assesses the comparative efficacy of ponatinib versus sequential treatment of alternate 2G TKIs in 3rdline setting in two separate patient populations, post-imatinib and dasatinib patients and post-imatinib and nilotinib patients.

METHODS

A systematic review was conducted in MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Libraries (2002-2014), as well as 3 conferences (ASH (2008-2014), ASCO (2008-2014), and EHA (2008-2013)). Studies evaluating any TKI were included if they enrolled 10 or more post-imatinib adult patients with CP-CML who were also R/I to dasatinib or nilotinib. All study designs were considered and no restriction was applied with respect to therapy dose, due to incomplete reporting of doses in the available studies. Analyses was run on two groups of patients, those failing imatinib and dasatinib (Group Ima/Das) and those failing imatinib and nilotinib (Group Ima/Nil). Bayesian methods were used to synthesize major cytogenetic response (MCyR) and complete cytogenetic response (CCyR) from individual studies and estimate the overall response probability with 95% credible interval (CrI) for each treatment. Bayesian analysis also was used to estimate the likelihood that each treatment offers the highest probability of CCyR/MCyR based on available evidence.

RESULTS

Six studies evaluating bosutinib, nilotinib and ponatinib for Group Ima/Das (n= 419) and five studies evaluating bosutinib, dasatinib and ponatinib for Group Ima/Nil (n=83) were included in the analysis. All studies reported CCyR in both groups. Five studies evaluating bosutinib, nilotinib and ponatinib reported MCyR in Group Ima/Das and three studies evaluating bosutinib and ponatinib reported MCyR in Group Ima/Nil.

Synthesized treatment-specific probabilities and 95% CrI for CCyR are presented in Figure 1.

Synthesized treatment-specific probabilities of CCyR for Group Ima/Das were 27% for nilotinib, 20% for bosutinib and 54% (95% CrI 43%% to 66%) for ponatinib. Treatment-specific probabilities of MCyR for Group Ima/Das were 41% for nilotinib, 28% for bosutinib and 66% (95% CrI 55%% to 77%) for ponatinib. The probability of ponatinib providing superior response to all other included treatments for group Ima/Das was estimated to be >99% for both CCyR and MCyR.

Synthesized treatment-specific probabilities of CCyR for Group Ima/Nil were 25% for dasatinib, 26% for bosutinib and 67% (95% CrI 51%% to 81%) for ponatinib. Treatment-specific probabilities of MCyR for Group Ima/Nil were 33% for bosutinib and 75% (95% CrI 60%% to 87%) for ponatinib. The probability of ponatinib providing superior response to all other included treatments for group Ima/Nil was estimated to be >99% for both CCyR and MCyR.

CONCLUSIONS

The post imatinib and dasatinib group included more studies with larger sample sizes compared with the post imatinib and nilotinib group. Overall, response rates appear higher for TKIs in the post imatinib and nilotinib group compared with the post imatinib and dasatinib group. For both groups, patients on ponatinib had higher CCyR and MCyR rates compared with the sequential 2G TKIs included in this analysis. Based on available data, ponatinib appears to provide a higher probability of treatment response for patients failing imatinib and dasatinib/ nilotinib compared with sequential 2G TKI therapy commonly used in this indication.

Figure 1
Figure 1.
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Disclosures

Lipton:Novartis: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Bristol Myers: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Ariad: Equity Ownership, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Pfizer: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau. Shah:Ariad Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding. Tongbram:Ariad Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding. Sidhu:Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc.: Research Funding. Huang:ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc.: Employment, Equity Ownership. McGarry:ARIAD Pharmaceutical, Inc.: Employment, Equity Ownership. Lustgarten:ARIAD Pharmaceuticals Inc: Employment, Equity Ownership. Hawkins:Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc.: Research Funding.

Topics:
dasatinib, imatinib mesylate, leukemia, myeloid, nilotinib, protein-tyrosine kinase inhibitor, ponatinib, bosutinib, leukemia, myelocytic, chronic, sequential treatment, frequency of responses

Author notes

*

Asterisk with author names denotes non-ASH members.

© 2014 by The American Society of Hematology
2014
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