Dr Hagop Kantarjian explains how the introduction of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) such as imatinib, bosutinib, nilotinib and dasatinib have produced a functional cure in many patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia and discusses what clinicians should consider when deciding between these drugs.

A minority of patients show resistance to these drugs; including those with the T315I mutation, however, Phase I results have suggested that these patients can be effectively treated with ponatinib. Dr Kantarjian concludes by discussing the financial repercussions of the indefinite treatment required for a functional cure and explains what research is being done to find new drugs which produce a full molecular cure.