Gleevec News and Research

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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.

Computer simulation model helps understand why chemotherapy resistance occurs

Understanding why and how chemotherapy resistance occurs is a major step toward optimizing treatments for cancer.

21 Jun 2022

New protein variant underlies the ability of gastric cancers to resist chemotherapy

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.

6 Dec 2021

Dying patients with rare diseases struggle to get experimental therapies

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.

14 Jul 2021

Two studies describe processes that affect the generation of new fat cells

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.

3 Feb 2021

Seniors face crushing drug costs as Congress stalls on capping Medicare out-of-pockets

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.

4 Jan 2021

Genetic testing is cost-effective, beneficial for newly diagnosed patients with metastatic GIST

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.

28 Sep 2020

UCLA researchers discover new way to eliminate leukemia stem cells

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.

15 Oct 2019

Chemistry researchers patent new method for making anti-leukemia compounds

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.

21 Mar 2019

New research finds how cancer cells acquire resistance to molecular-targeted drugs

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.

25 Feb 2019

OHSU Knight Cancer Institute Director wins 2018 Tang Prize in Biopharmaceutical Science

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.

20 Jun 2018

Why the drugmaker that paid Trump’s lawyer $1.2 million is so worried

President Donald Trump didn't mention Novartis or other drugmakers by name last year when he said the industry is "getting away with murder."

11 May 2018

Salk scientists discover protein that 'turns off' uncontrolled liver cancer growth

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.

29 Mar 2018

Research findings offer prime drug targets to treat rare liver cancer that strikes young people

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.

22 Nov 2017

Researchers identify new gene fusions and mutations linked to subset of GIST patients

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.

16 Dec 2016

High out-of-pocket costs may delay Medicare patients' access to novel targeted treatment for cancer

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.

4 Oct 2016

EPFL scientists develop new method to cheaply produce chemical compounds

EPFL scientists design a new method to cheaply produce some of the most important chemical compounds in the pharmaceutical industry - the amines.

12 Aug 2016

Kataegis linked to better prognosis for breast cancer patients

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.

1 Jul 2016

Researchers examine critical role of hypoxia in induction, amplification of FOP lesions

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.

3 May 2016

New oral cancer drugs getting more expensive over time, study shows

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.

30 Apr 2016

Gleevec could be novel therapeutic agent for type 2 diabetes

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.

28 Mar 2016