Transcript
My name is Sangmin Lee. I'm an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and New York-Presbyterian Hospital in the Leukemia Program.
One of the debates that I was participating in was in CML, whether treatment-free remission should be a goal for all patients with CML. I was tasked with arguing against it.
For CML patients, treatment-free remission is an important goal. However, it's only a goal for patients who have a sustained molecular response for at least 2 years.
The problem with treatment-free remission data is that the rate for TFR, no matter how you look at it, is only about 40 to 60%, and there is no predictive biomarker to predict which patients can remain off TKI or not.
Of course, if patients have side effects, are pregnant, or there are insurance cost issues, then they should absolutely be considered for going off TKI. However, going off TKI does involve frequent monitoring every month, and for a patient to be compliant with monitoring, as well as patients to be aware that there is a significant chance that patient needs to resume their TKI.
It is appropriate for select patients who are very motivated, have a deep, sustained response, as well as patients who are aware that they may have to go back on the TKI.
