The Three Year Follow-up of CML Patients Treated with First-line Generic and First-line Branded Imatinib in Bosnia and Herzegovina

[摘要] Imatinib mesylate, a selective BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase inhibitor, has been well established as the standard of care for chronic myeloid leukaemia patients. In this study, we compared clinical outcomes of patients who received first-line Glivec (Group 1) with patients who received first-line generic imatinib (Group 2) in Bosnia and Herzegovina with three years follow-up of therapy. At 24 months of therapy, the achievement of complete cytogenetic response and major molecular response were comparable between the studied groups (CCyR was 69% vs. 70%, respectively; MMR was 54% vs. 48%, respectively). After comparing the reasons for the switch to nilotinib, we found that treatment failure was higher in patients treated with generic imatinib (30% vs. 8%, respectively) and side effects were similar in both patient groups (22% vs. 19%, respectively). In general, patients on first-line generic imatinib had higher rates of treatment failure compared to patients treated with first-line branded imatinib.

[学科分类] 肿瘤学

[关键词] Generic imatinib;Glivec;Clinical outcomes;CML