Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) is a chronic leukemia, often identified in asymptomatic people with a median age of diagnosis in Canada of 64 years. It accounts for 15% of all leukemias. Previous to the introduction of oral tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI’s) such as imatinib (Gleevec®) in 2001, 8-year survival was 15% following diagnosis. The use of TKI’s has led to an 8-year overall survival rate reaching 87%, thus nearly matching age matched controls. With this, the prevalence of CML has continued to rise with a predicted 112,000 in the USA this year.

Our goal is to test a new paradigm for stopping TKIs in CML patients. This paradigm is one that will be more universally accessible for patients across Canada. This pilot trial will be the basis of a larger trial in Ontario.

Waffa Bakheet and Siri Ravipati were the student leads on this project during their completion of their Masters of Science in Translational Health Science. They both presented this project at the 2022 WE-SPARK Health Research Conference and the 2022 UWill Discover Conference hosted by the University of Windsor.