ABSTRACT

For patients with BCR-ABL1-positive leukemias, which comprise all the Ph chromosome-positive and some Ph-negative leukemias, the introduction of the original tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), imatinib, into the clinics in 1998, resulted in being both a classic and a landmark achievement. It was classic since it established the notion of the BCR-ABL1 being of a principal pathogenetic importance, and a landmark, since it established the usefulness of TKIs to accord a survival benefi t to the majority of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in chronic phase. This is even more remarkable, given the considerable skepticism expressed, from both academic and industry experts, about any possible clinical value of TKIs in the early 1990s!