Nilotinib population pharmacokinetics and exposure-response analysis in patients with imatinib-resistant or -intolerant chronic myeloid leukemia

We evaluated the population pharmacokinetics (PK) and exposure-response relationship of nilotinib in patients with imatinib-resistant or -intolerant chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Concentration data from 493 patients with CML in chronic phase (CML-CP), accelerated phase, or blast crisis were used to perform a population pharmacokinetic analysis using nonlinear mixed-effect modeling. Steady-state nilotinib trough concentrations (C-min) in individual patients were estimated from the population PK model for correlation with the efficacy and safety variables. Exposure-efficacy analysis was performed in patients with CML-CP, whereas exposure-safety analysis was performed in all patients who had both nilotinib PK data and efficacy/safety measures available. Baseline demographics and CML disease phase did not significantly affect nilotinib PK. Patients with a lower C-min had significantly longer time to complete cytogenetic response (P = 0.010), longer time to major molecular response (P = 0.012), shorter time to progression (TTP; P = 0.009), and a trend toward lower response rates vs. patients with higher C-min. A joint effect of prognostic risk score and C-min on TTP was significant (P < 0.001). Nilotinib C-min was also associated with the occurrence of all-grade elevations in total bilirubin (P < 0.001) and lipase (P = 0.002) levels. When tolerability allows, adherence to the nilotinib dose (400 mg twice daily) in order to maintain sufficient C-min is important in maximizing the efficacy of nilotinib in patients with imatinib-resistant or -intolerant CML.