A Study to Investigate Tolerability and Efficacy of Asciminib (Oral) Versus Nilotinib (Oral) in Adult Participants (≥18 Years of Age) With Newly Diagnosed Philadelphia Chromosome Positive Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia in Chronic Phase (Ph+ CML-CP)

The study is designed to compare the tolerability of asciminib versus nilotinib for the treatment of newly diagnosed, previously untreated patients with Positive Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia in Chronic Phase (Ph+ CML-CP).

This study is a phase IIIb, multi-center, open-label, randomized study of oral asciminib 80 mg once daily (QD) versus nilotinib 300 mg twice daily (BID) in adult patients with newly diagnosed Ph+ CML-CP.

Participants will be randomized in the study in a 1:1 ratio to asciminib or nilotinib. No crossover of study treatment across arms will be allowed.

Participants will be treated until unacceptable toxicity, disease progression and/or at the discretion of the investigator or the participants. A safety follow up visit/call will be performed approximately 30 days after end of treatment visit. Participants who discontinue study treatment prematurely due to any reason, will be followed up for survival and progression (to Accelerated Phase (AP)/Blast Crisis (BC)) up until end of study.