Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc fka ARIA

[bellweather1]

In particular, molecular response to TKI therapy at 3 months predicts future molecular response and long-term survival outcomes, including OS (Table 3) [50,51].

In one landmark analysis of imatinib-treated patients,BCR-ABL1
transcript level at 3, 6, and 12 months
predicted the 8-year rates of CCyR, MMR, CMR, OS, PFS, and EFS,

but only BCR-ABL1 transcript level at 3 months was found to be an independent predictor of 8-year survival outcomes (Figure 1) [51].

http://www.jhoonline.org/content/pdf/1756-8722-6-54.pdf

And The Cortes/MD Anderson study(at ASH)should give us a window into that critical statistic which seems to predict best long-term outcomes.

Of course, EPIC will be more conclusive, but if Pona superiority is great enough, that should provide a big boost.

But, in addition, if the same sort of superiority can also be demonstrated at 30mgs(for certain sub-populations?), that would really seal the deal for Pona 1st line due to the likely lower side effects profile. Thus, the motivation to study at 30mgs...