Inclusion criteria:

• Male or female patients aged ≥ 18 years old
• Diagnosis of Philadelphia chromosome positive accelerated or blast phase chronic myeloid leukemia defined as:
• Accelerated phase - the presence of at least one of the following:
• ≥15% but <30% blasts in blood or bone marrow
• ≥30% blasts plus promyelocytes in peripheral blood or bone marrow (providing that <30% blasts present in bone marrow)
• ≥ 20% basophiles in the peripheral blood
• Thrombocytopenia <100 X 109 /L unrelated to therapy
• Blast phase (blast crisis) - the presence of one of the following:
• ≥ 30% blasts in the blood, marrow or both
• Extramedullary infiltrates of leukemic cells
• Prior treatment with at least two BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase inhibitors (i.e., imatinib, nilotinib, or dasatinib) and demonstrated resistance to the most recent kinase inhibitor therapy.
• Patients with a history of intolerance to one BCR-ABL kinase inhibitors (defined as discontinuation of treatment due grade 3 or 4 adverse events related to treatment) will be considered eligible to enter the study if they demonstrate resistance to their most recent BCR-ABL kinase inhibitor.
• Patients must have adequate laboratory values:
• Baseline measurement of left ventricular ejection fraction [assessment of the hearts ability to pump effectively]
• Assessment of patients ability to perform every day activities. Assessment by the ECOG [Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group] Performance Status

Exclusion criteria:

• A candidate for hematopoitic stem cell transplantation
• Prior therapy with certain medications
• Patients who are in chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia
• Impaired cardiac function or clinically significant cardiac diseases
• Concomitant use of drugs with a risk of possible risk of causing QTc prolongation or torsades de pointes
• Concomitant use of certain medications
• Impairment of GI function or GI disease
• Patients with unresolved diarrhea
• Patients who have received chemotherapy, any investigational drugs (other than BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase inhibitors) or undergone major surgery < 4 weeks prior to starting study drug or who have not recovered from side effects of such therapy
• Patients who have received a BCR-ABL tyrosine-kinase inhibitor within 1 week of first treatment with LBH589
• Women who are pregnant or breast feeding or women of childbearing potential not using an effective method of birth control
• Male patients whose sexual partners are women of child bearing potential not using effective birth control

Other protocol-defined inclusion/exclusion criteria may apply