Acute Myeloid Leukemia News and Research

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Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) is a rapidly progressing cancer of the blood characterized by the uncontrolled proliferation of immature blast cells in the bone marrow. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society estimates that over 13,000 new cases of AML were diagnosed and approximately 9,000 deaths from AML occurred in the U.S. during 2007. AML is generally a disease of older adults, and the median age of a patient diagnosed with AML is about 67 years. A majority of elderly patients are not considered candidates for standard induction therapy or decline therapy, resulting in an acute need for new treatment options.

EntreMed's ENMD-2076 for AML receives FDA's orphan drug designation

EntreMed, Inc., today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation for the Company's lead oncology drug candidate, ENMD-2076, for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

16 Feb 2010

Meda publishes 2009 year-end report

“The Meda Group expects to achieve sales of about SEK 13,000 million and an EBITDA of about SEK 4,200 million for full-year 2009.”

16 Feb 2010

Synta Pharmaceuticals' STA-9090 inhibits WT1 protein in AML

Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. today announced that preclinical results presented at the “Bridging the Gap 2010” Hematologic Conference, held in Singapore City, Singapore, February 5-7, 2010, shows that STA-9090, a potent inhibitor of heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90), inhibits the Wilms’ tumor 1 (WT1) protein, a key transcription factor that drives disease progression in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) as well as certain other leukemias. STA-9090 is currently enrolling patients in two clinical trials in AML and other hematologic cancers.

9 Feb 2010

VIDAZA prolongs survival in AML patients

The Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) Foundation says a study published this week in the Journal of Clinical Oncology concludes VIDAZA (azacitidine) “prolongs survival and is well tolerated” in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) - an aggressive form of leukemia that in many cases progresses from MDS.

3 Feb 2010

Leukemia cells rely on fatty acid metabolism to grow and evade cell death

Leukemia cells, like most cancers, are addicted to glucose to generate their energy, but new research shows for the first time that these cells also rely on fatty acid metabolism to grow and to evade cell death.

28 Jan 2010

CytRx announces its plans to advance multiple oncology development programs in 2010

CytRx Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company specializing in oncology, today announced its plans for 2010 aimed at advancing the clinical development of its high-value drug development pipeline and enhancing shareholder value.

22 Jan 2010

Gene variant predisposes humans to develop acute myeloid leukemia, says study

A large international research group led by Dr. Tarik M-r-y, a researcher at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montr-al (IRCM), has discovered that a variant of the gene "Growth Factor Independence 1" (GFI1) predisposes humans to develop acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a certain subtype of blood cancer.

20 Jan 2010

Vion Pharmaceuticals files SPA for Onrigin-LDAC combination Phase II/III trial

VION PHARMACEUTICALS, INC. announced today that it had filed a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) related to a randomized Phase II/III trial of its oncology therapeutic Onrigin™ (laromustine) Injection in combination with low-dose Ara-C (LDAC) in elderly patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The primary objective for the Phase III part of this study is to determine if Onrigin™ plus LDAC improves overall survival compared with LDAC alone.

12 Jan 2010

Older patients with acute myeloid leukemia may benefit from decitabine drug

Older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) might benefit from a drug that reactivates genes that cancer cells turn off, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and collaborating institutions.

12 Jan 2010

Meda receives exclusive rights to distribute AML drug in Europe and Asia

Meda has in-licensed exclusive rights to Ceplene (histamine dihydrochloride) from EpiCept Corporation, a US-based biopharmaceutical company.

11 Jan 2010

EpiCept, Meda enter into exclusive commercialization agreement for Ceplene

EpiCept Corporation announced today that it has entered into an exclusive commercialization agreement for Ceplene® (histamine dihydrochloride) with Meda AB, a leading international specialty pharmaceutical company based in Stockholm. Ceplene is EpiCept’s novel therapy approved in the European Union with orphan drug status for the remission maintenance and prevention of relapse of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in first remission.

11 Jan 2010

Epigenetic diagnosis and therapies, a new strategy for treating cancer

A tumor's genetic profile is often useful when diagnosing and deciding on treatment for certain cancers, but inexplicably, genetically similar leukemias in different patients do not always respond well to the same therapy.

7 Jan 2010

FDA evaluates Phase III randomized trial in acute myeloid leukemia

VION PHARMACEUTICALS, INC., announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") had responded to its Special Protocol Assessment ("SPA") request to evaluate the Phase III randomized trial HOVON AML 92 sponsored by the Dutch-Belgian Cooperative Group for Hematology Oncology ("HOVON") of its lead product Onrigin(TM).

31 Dec 2009

Vion Pharmaceuticals files for bankruptcy

VION PHARMACEUTICALS, INC., a pharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel cancer therapeutics, announced that it had voluntarily filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

18 Dec 2009

Ambit Biosciences and Astellas Pharma to jointly develop and commercialize FLT3 kinase inhibitors

Ambit Biosciences Corporation and Astellas Pharma Inc. today announced that they have entered into a worldwide agreement to jointly develop and commercialize FLT3 kinase inhibitors in oncology and non-oncology indications.

18 Dec 2009

Preclinical study of Arno Therapeutics' drug candidate AR-42 presented at ASH 2009

Arno Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on oncology therapeutics, today announced the presentation of a poster at the annual American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting that describes the preclinical activity of Arno’s drug candidate AR-42 against leukemia stem cells (LSCs).

16 Dec 2009

Italian patent issued for NPM1 to test patients with AML

Xenomics, Inc., a developer of transrenal molecular diagnostics, announced today that a key Italian patent covering a unique diagnostic application with critical significance for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has issued.

16 Dec 2009

Update on new clinical developments and other initiatives related to Ceplene

EpiCept Corporation today provided an update on new clinical developments and other initiatives related to Ceplene® (histamine dihydrochloride), the Company’s therapy approved in the European Union for the remission maintenance and prevention of relapse of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in first remission.

15 Dec 2009

Phase 2 pivotal trial of AC220 initiated by Ambit Biosciences

Ambit Biosciences Corporation announced today the enrollment and dosing at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center of the first patient in the ACE (AC220 Monotherapy Efficacy) Phase 2 pivotal trial in patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

11 Dec 2009

MLL team finds 454 Sequencing technology promising for leukemia genetic characterization

This week at the 51st American Society for Hematology Annual Meeting, a team of researchers from the MLL Munich Leukemia Laboratory presented results from a series of groundbreaking studies which explore alternative, high-throughput 454 Sequencing methods for distinguishing and characterizing the many forms of leukemia and myeloproliferative disorders.

9 Dec 2009