Conditions: Chronic Myeloid Leukemia
Keywords: AMN107 CML Phase II single arm open label nilotinib treatment-free remission MR4.5 confirmed loss of MR4 loss of MMR Ph+ CML-CP
Allocation: NA | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 163
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
A clinical research study to find out if it is safe to stop the drug nilotinib (Tasigna) in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients. Patients who started treatment with imatinib (Gleevec) when they were first diagnosed with CML, then switched to nilotinib (Tasigna) for at least 2 years with the combined time on imatinib (Gleevec) and nilotinib (Tasigna) for at least 3 years and have very small amount of leukemia cells remaining after the nilotinib (Tasigna) treatment will qualify for the study.

Detailed description:
The Primary objective was to evaluate the proportion of patients in TFR within 48 weeks following nilotinib cessation.

This study originally consisted of seven phases (five treatment phases and two treatment-free phases) from which two were the focus of this primary analysis report (consolidation, TFR and treatment re-initiation) The study consisted of 2 main phases: Consolidation and TFR

Nilotinib treatment consolidation phase (NTCS): Patients who satisfied all inclusion/exclusion criteria were enrolled in the consolidation phase and continued to receive nilotinib for 52 weeks at the dose which the patient was receiving prior to study entry. If a patient maintained MR4.5 throughout the consolidation phase, he/she was eligible to enter in the TFR phase. If a patient had confirmed loss of MR4.5 during the consolidation phase, he/she was not eligible to enter in the TFR phase and continued nilotinib treatment.

Nilotinib TFR phase: Patients who were eligible to enter in the TFR phase after completing the 52 week consolidation phase stopped taking nilotinib on the first day of the TFR phase. Duration of this phase was up to 520 weeks after the last patient enters in the TFR phase.

Nilotinib treatment re-initiation phase (NTRI): If a patient had a confirmed loss of MR4 (two consecutive BCR-ABL \>0.01% IS) or loss of MMR (BCR-ABL \>0.1% IS) in the TFR phase, the patient restarted nilotinib treatment. Patients will be on nilotinib treatment for up to 520 weeks after the last patient entered the nilotinib TFR phase, or until a patient experience unacceptable toxicity, disease progression and/or treatment discontinued at the discretion of the Investigator or if the patient withdrew consent. Nilotinib cessation was not attempted for a second time in the patient who reinitiated treatment or discontinued following the TFR phase.

Nilotinib treatment continuation phase (NTCT) and Nilotinib treatment prolonged continuation phase (NTCT-P): Patients who were not eligible to enter into the TFR phase after completing the 52-week NTCS phase entered the nilotinib treatment continuation (NTCT) phase and would continue treatment with nilotinib for another 52 weeks (a total of 104 weeks of treatment). Patients who were not able to maintain MR4.5 and had a confirmed loss of MR4.5 during the NTCT phase were not eligible to enter the TFR-2 phase. These patients entered into the nilotinib prolonged treatment continuation phase (NTCT-P) and continued nilotinib treatment until 520 weeks after the last patient entered the nilotinib TFR phase, or until the patients experience unacceptable toxicity, disease progression and/or treatment would be discontinued at the discretion of the Investigator or withdrawal of consent.

Nilotinib TFR-2 phase: Patients who maintained MR4.5 during the NTCT phase were eligible to cease nilotinib treatment and enter the TFR-2 phase. The duration of the nilotinib TFR-2 phase is up to 520 weeks after the last patient entered the TFR phase. Patients stopped taking nilotinib therapy on the day they entered the TFR-2 phase.

Nilotinib treatment re-initiation-2 (NTRI-2): If a patient had a loss of MMR or a confirmed loss of MR4 during the TFR-2 phase, he/she entered the nilotinib treatment re-initiation-2 (NTRI-2) phase and resumed nilotinib treatment at a dose of either 300 mg or 400 mg bid.

Safety follow-up was performed within 30 days after the last dose of study treatment or the last day in TFR/TFR-2.

Post-treatment follow-up visits were performed every 12 weeks up to 520 weeks after the last patient entered the nilotinib TFR phase.

Arms:
arm 1: Patients with minimum 3 years of tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment (first with imatinib and then switched to nilotinib) since initial diagnosis, at least 2 years of nilotinib treatment prior to study entry and who achieved MR4.5 (local laboratory assessment) during nilotinib treatment, and determined by a Novartis designated central PCR lab assessment at screening

Interventions: intervention 1: nilotinib
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Nilotinib was dosed by weight or body surface area.

Nilotinib 300 mg BID or 400 mg BID was be administered orally at approximately 12 hour intervals, and must not have been taken with food. The capsules were to be swallowed whole with water.

No food should have been consumed for at least 2 hours before the dose was taken and no additional food should have been consumed for at least one hour after the dose was taken. Patients were also allowed to enter this study on the same dose they were taking prior to study entry. Patients who required permanent dose reduction from their original starting dose were to be allowed to enter this study on the same dose only if the patient maintained this dose for a minimum of 6 months prior to study entry.

Protocol document: