The specificity of asciminib, a potential treatment for chronic myeloid leukemia, as a myristate-pocket binding ABL inhibitor and analysis of its interactions with mutant forms of BCR-ABL1 kinase

•Deregulated ABL kinase activity of the chimeric BCR-ABL1 oncoprotein drives CML.•Enzymatic activity of ABL is regulated by myristate binding to its catalytic domain.•Asciminib specifically targets the ABL myristate pocket thus inhibiting BCR-ABL1.•Asciminib has no effect other kinases and only impacts the viability of CML cells.•Drug-resistant BCR-ABL1 mutations that can emerge in CML are sensitive to asciminib.