Is Bosulif a chemotherapy drug?

Bosulif (bosutinib monohydrate) is a chemotherapy drug used to treat patients with a type of cancer called chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).

Bosulif is a small molecule drug and tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Tyrosine kinases are a family of enzymes that play a key role in controlling the signaling processes involved in cell growth, differentiation, metabolism and death.

Bosulif is known as a targeted therapy because it inhibits specific kinases that promote the growth of CML, which is a type of hematological malignancy or blood cancer. Targeted chemotherapy drugs differ from traditional chemotherapy agents which attack all dividing cells, damaging healthy cells as well as cancerous ones.

Bosulif has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of adults with newly-diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome-positive CML (Ph+ CML). It is also approved to treat adults with CML who are no longer benefiting from other treatment options or can’t tolerate them.