Novel Leukemia Pills Show Promise
Novel Leukemia Pills Show Promise
Dec. 6, 2004 (San Diego) -- A new generation of medications to treat leukemia is wiping out cancer in people who fail to benefit from the blockbuster drug Gleevec, researchers say.
One of the new drugs, known as BMS-354825, obliterated signs of leukemia in nearly nine of 10 people who took it, says Charles Sawyers, MD, a cancer specialist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who is leading tests of the drug.
Sawyers and others spoke about the novel drugs at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology this week. The experimental medications are being tested in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia or CML, a blood and bone marrow cancer that strikes about 4,400 Americans and 10,000 people worldwide each year.
When Gleevec came on the market in 2001, it was considered revolutionary -- one of the first targeted therapies to seek out and destroy only cancerous cells, leaving surrounding healthy tissue unscathed. Not only do targeted therapies work better, but they avoid many of the side effects, such as nausea and hair loss, associated with traditional chemotherapy.
Overnight, the pill became the standard treatment for CML because it was relatively safe, easy to administer, and worked fast to produce excellent clinical remissions, says Stanley Schrier, MD, active emeritus professor of medicine/hematology at Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto and president of the American Society of Hematology.
But after three years of treatment, about 15% of people with CML stop responding to Gleevec - "a devastating experience," says Kanti Rai, MD, vice president of the American Society of Hematology and a cancer specialist at Albert Einstein School of Medicine in New York.
"After being told that the drug might cure them, the cancer comes back. It's a letdown of unimaginable proportions."
That's where BMS-354825, made by Bristol-Myers Squibb, comes in. "It's groundbreaking," Rai tells WebMD.
A better understanding of the genetic alterations involved in leukemia led to the development of both Gleevec and the new drugs, Sawyers says.
Gleevec targets a mutation in the protein BCR-ABL, which allows cells to multiply unchecked.
One of the new drugs, known as BMS-354825, obliterated signs of leukemia in nearly nine of 10 people who took it, says Charles Sawyers, MD, a cancer specialist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who is leading tests of the drug.
Sawyers and others spoke about the novel drugs at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology this week. The experimental medications are being tested in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia or CML, a blood and bone marrow cancer that strikes about 4,400 Americans and 10,000 people worldwide each year.
When Gleevec came on the market in 2001, it was considered revolutionary -- one of the first targeted therapies to seek out and destroy only cancerous cells, leaving surrounding healthy tissue unscathed. Not only do targeted therapies work better, but they avoid many of the side effects, such as nausea and hair loss, associated with traditional chemotherapy.
Overnight, the pill became the standard treatment for CML because it was relatively safe, easy to administer, and worked fast to produce excellent clinical remissions, says Stanley Schrier, MD, active emeritus professor of medicine/hematology at Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto and president of the American Society of Hematology.
But after three years of treatment, about 15% of people with CML stop responding to Gleevec - "a devastating experience," says Kanti Rai, MD, vice president of the American Society of Hematology and a cancer specialist at Albert Einstein School of Medicine in New York.
"After being told that the drug might cure them, the cancer comes back. It's a letdown of unimaginable proportions."
That's where BMS-354825, made by Bristol-Myers Squibb, comes in. "It's groundbreaking," Rai tells WebMD.
Understanding Cancer's Roots
A better understanding of the genetic alterations involved in leukemia led to the development of both Gleevec and the new drugs, Sawyers says.
Gleevec targets a mutation in the protein BCR-ABL, which allows cells to multiply unchecked.
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