The iCMLf TFR Alliance - Optimising Treatment Free Remission

While a cure for CML remains the ultimate goal, treatment free remission (TFR) is often the treatment target for those on TKI therapy. Still, with only around 50% of attempts resulting in sustained TFR, there is much room for improvement. The iCMLf TFR Alliance is focused on increasing the success rates of TFR, enabling more patients to stop therapy while maintaining remission. The iCMLf/HARMONY TFR Big Data project plans to evaluate over 2,500 cases looking at factors that predict successful, sustained TKI discontinuation, potentially linking it to long-term cure.

Progress to date:

• 19 sites from 14 countries are participating in the iCMLf/HARMONY TFR project.
• 8 sites are finalised, with upload, transfer and mapping completed
• 2 sites are finalising mapping & 6 sites are waiting for mapping to begin
• 3 sites are preparing their data for transfer
• 1,198 cases available for analysis with approximately 1,400 still coming
• Data analysis will begin in Q3 2025

 We thank Incyte and Pfizer for supporting the iCMLf Genomics and TFR Alliances.

In partnership with the HARMONY Foundation Big Data platform

History of the iCMLf TFR Alliance: Establishing a global registry for TFR

Established in late 2019, the iCMLf TFR Alliance has now evolved into a global network of  41 collaborators from 21 countries aiming to enhance successful TFR attempts for people with CML.

In 2020 the TFR Alliance began the process to establish an International TFR Registry as an optimal way to study clinically (and pharmaco-economically) important research questions on treatment-free remission. Initial seed funding from the iCMLf Climb for a Cure was awarded to the Swedish CML Registry Group following a call for proposals. 

Torsten Dahlén (M.D.), Martin Höglund (M.D., PhD) and Leif Stenke (M.D., Professor) from the Swedish CML Registry Group lead the iCMLf TFR Alliance Registry project

Following a community survey to define the registry parameters and outcomes, priorities for the TFR registry were established and we moved to the 'set up’ phase.

In October 2020, HARMONY PLUS was launched. CML data could be accepted to the Big-Data platform and the iCMLf/HARMONY TFR project was proposed and accepted as the way to collate and analyse multinational TFR data.

HARMONY Plus platform – Big data to improve CML treatment

“Harnessing the power of pooled patient-level data we hope to identify the optimal treatment pathway leading to an increased likelihood of a successful, prolonged TFR, allowing for better guided clinical care” Torsten Dahlén

The HARMONY Big Data Project facilitates data pooling and sharing for specific hematologic malignancies with a central repository of data. Genomic and clinical data is collected from multiple research groups that contribute anonymised data in a secure way following all legal and ethical requirements.

HARMONY Plus is an extension to the project to expand the scope of data sharing to other hematologic malignancies, including CML. The HARMONY Plus project team is collaborating with the iCMLf TFR Alliance to facilitate the multi-country contribution of clinical and outcome CML data to the HARMONY data platform, to answer key clinical questions using Big Data. 

Make a difference in the fight against CML

You can donate to the iCMLf research projects by visiting our donation page to get involved and make a difference in the fight against CML.

We are grateful to Pfizer and Incyte for support for the analysis and publication of the iCMLf Alliance projects.