Novartis has proved via clinical trails that its new leukemia drug Tasigna has managed to perform better than the pharmaceutical company's much popular Gleevec leukemia treatment, in at least the initial results. With the development, Novartis could start positioning the new treatment to try and replace Gleevec.

With a revenue which exceeds $3.7 Billion a year, Gleevec is the one of the drug-maker's highest selling drugs, but come 2015, and it will not only lose patent protection, but also face tough competition from low-cost copies. Tasigna is the firm's answer to all these problems.

The study of Gleevec vs. Tasigna was funded by Novartis, and took into consideration 846 newly diagnosed chronic myeloid leukemia, which is a form of blood cancer, patients. 1 year after the treatment, it was discovered that nearly twice as many patients who were on Tasigna, had benefitted.

"The superior efficacy and favorable tolerability profile of nilotinib compared with imatinib suggests that nilotinib may become the standard of care in newly diagnosed CML patients", wrote the doctor who led the study.

Set to continue over several more years to come, the detailed study was presented on Tuesday at the American Society of Hematology's annual meeting in New Orleans.