Gleevec is a drug used to treat different types of leukemia and other cancers of the blood, gastrointestinal stromal tumors, skin tumors called dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, and a rare condition called systemic mastocytosis. It is also being studied in the treatment of other types of cancer. Gleevec blocks the protein made by the bcr/abl oncogene. It is a type of tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Also called imatinib mesylate and STI571.
Understanding why and how chemotherapy resistance occurs is a major step toward optimizing treatments for cancer.
A new protein variant underlies the ability of gastric cancers to resist an otherwise effective family of chemotherapy drugs, according to a study by a multidisciplinary team at Weill Cornell Medicine. The results suggest a treatment strategy that could improve the prognoses of many patients with cancer.
At 15, Autumn Fuernisen is dying. She was diagnosed at age 11 with a rare degenerative brain disorder that has no known cure or way to slow it down: juvenile-onset Huntington's disease.
Gaining more fat cells is probably not what most people want, although that might be exactly what they need to fight off diabetes and other diseases.
Sharon Clark is able to get her life-sustaining cancer drug, Pomalyst — priced at more than $18,000 for a 28-day supply — only because of the generosity of patient assistance foundations.
Because gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) are sensitive to the targeted small molecule therapy imatinib, oncologists tend to treat all patients with metastatic GIST with this drug. However, because this rare type of cancer is caused by different genetic mutations, imatinib does not help all patients equally.
The introduction of the drug imatinib in 2001 revolutionized the treatment of a type of cancer called chronic myelogenous leukemia. In more than 80% of people with CML who received the drug, the disease went into complete remission.
Chemistry researchers at Oregon State University have patented a method for making anti-leukemia compounds that until now have only been available via an Asian tree that produces them.
Although molecular-targeted drugs have been known to show high efficacy to lung cancer patients, they also have limitations due to acquiring resistance to the drug used.
OHSU Knight Cancer Institute Director Brian J. Druker, M.D., has been awarded the 2018 Tang Prize in Biopharmaceutical Science for his pioneering role in shaping the fields of precision medicine and targeted cancer drugs.
President Donald Trump didn't mention Novartis or other drugmakers by name last year when he said the industry is "getting away with murder."
Salk Institute scientists, together with researchers from Switzerland's University of Basel and University Hospital Basel, discovered a protein called LHPP that acts as a molecular switch to turn off the uncontrolled growth of cells in liver cancer.
After years of rigorous research, a team of scientists has identified the genetic engine that drives a rare form of liver cancer. The findings offer prime targets for drugs to treat the usually lethal disease, fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma (FL-HCC), which mainly strikes adolescents and young adults.
In recent years, researchers have identified specific gene mutations linked to gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), which primarily occur in the stomach or small intestine, with 5,000 to 6,000 new cases per year in the United States.
Significant out-of-pocket costs that cancer patients can face before Medicare insurance drug benefits kick in may delay the patients' treatment with a novel class of targeted therapies, according to a University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center-led study.
EPFL scientists design a new method to cheaply produce some of the most important chemical compounds in the pharmaceutical industry - the amines.
Kataegis is a recently discovered phenomenon in which multiple mutations cluster in a few hotspots in a genome. The anomaly was previously found in some cancers, but it has been unclear what role kataegis plays in tumor development and patient outcomes.
The cellular response to the lack of oxygen fans the flames of flare-ups in a rare bone disorder. In fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), a mutation triggers bone growth in muscles, which limits motion, breathing, and swallowing, among a host of progressive symptoms.
New cancer drugs taken in pill form have become dramatically more expensive in their first year on the market compared with drugs launched 15 years ago, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study has found. The findings call into question the sustainability of a system that sets high prices at market entry in addition to rapidly increasing those prices over time.
The cancer treatment drug Imatinib, otherwise known as Gleevec is approved to treat various forms of cancer, mostly notably chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). However, researchers have stumbled onto another possible use for it, curing type 2 diabetes.