Imatinib mesylate (also called Gleevec® or STI571) is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of some forms of adult and pediatric chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), and for the treatment of a rare form of cancer called gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST).
With CML, imatinib works by blocking an abnormal enzyme characteristic of the disease. In GIST, imatinib blocks a different abnormal enzyme found on the tumor cells.
Imatinib is the first approved drug to directly turn off the signal of a protein known to cause a cancer. Other molecular-targeting drugs previously approved by the FDA interfere with proteins associated with other cancers, but not with proteins that directly cause the disease.
Imatinib is being investigated for its effectiveness against other kinds of cancer, as well, including acute lymphocytic leukemia and hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES).
Imatinib is approved worldwide for use in GIST, tumours which do not respond to conventional chemotherapy, which have a prevalence of around 20 per 100,000 population.
One of the truly spectacular success stories in modern oncology is the development and implementation of Gleevec, a drug that virtually halts the progress of chronic myeloid leukemia. Yet for some patients who harbor particularly stubborn genetic mutations, Gleevec fails miserably.
50,000 people or 10% of the 500,000 people in the U.S with cancer, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis or hepatitis C will be eligible for a Medicare drug lottery for coverage of life saving drugs.
Mutation of a gene involved in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) increases the likelihood that the drug gefitinib (Iressa™) will show a beneficial response, researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) - part of the National Institutes of Health - and two other institutions announced today in the online version of Science.
St. John’s wort, an herb thought to be a safe, natural remedy for mild depression, may interfere with a powerful cancer-fighting drug’s ability to prevent relapse in leukemia patients, a University of Florida pharmacy researcher will report March 27 at the annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics.
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