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.
Charles L. Sawyers, Chair of Memorial Sloan-Kettering's Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program (HOPP), was awarded the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences today. The award - established by Art Levinson, Sergey Brin, Anne Wojcicki, Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan, and Yuri Milner - recognizes "excellence in research aimed at curing intractable diseases and extending human life."
A drug that is currently used for cancer can relieve and slow down the progression of the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis (MS) in rats, according to a new study published in PLOS ONE.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved a new use of Gleevec (imatinib) to treat children newly diagnosed with Philadelphia chromosome positive (Ph+) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered that hard-to-reach, drug-resistant leukemia stem cells (LSCs) that overexpress multiple pro-survival protein forms are sensitive - and thus vulnerable - to a novel cancer stem cell-targeting drug currently under development.
An international team of scientists, led by researchers from Temple University School of Medicine, has found that a source of mounting genomic chaos, or instability, common to chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) may lie in a pool of leukemia stem cells that are immune to treatment with potent targeted anticancer drugs.
Despite treatment with imatinib, a successful drug that targets chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), a deadly type of cancer, some patients may continue to be at risk for relapse because a tiny pool of stem cells is resistant to treatment and may even accumulate additional genetic aberrations, eventually leading to disease progression and relapse. These leukemia stem cells are full of genetic errors, loaded with potentially lethal breaks in DNA, and are in a state of constant self-repair.
Novartis will highlight more than 140 presentations on key data from its extensive oncology portfolio at the leading year-end scientific meetings devoted to hematology and breast cancer, demonstrating continued innovation in research and development efforts to advance the care of patients with cancer and rare diseases.
A previously invincible mutation in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) has been thwarted by an investigational drug in a phase I clinical trial reported in the current edition of The New England Journal of Medicine.
A new targeted drug demonstrated its ability to control metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumor, an uncommon and life-threatening form of sarcoma, after the disease had become resistant to all existing therapies, report investigators at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute who led the worldwide clinical trial.
Physician-researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine have reported the first effective therapy for a class of previously untreatable and potentially life-threatening tumors often found in children.
Proteins accelerate certain chemical reactions in cells by several orders of magnitude. The molecular mechanism by which the Ras protein accelerates the cleavage of the molecule GTP and thus slows cell growth is described by biophysicists at the Ruhr-Universit-t Bochum led by Prof. Dr. Klaus Gerwert in the Online Early Edition of the journal PNAS.
Pfizer Inc. announced today the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved BOSULIF (bosutinib), an Abl and Src kinase inhibitor, for the treatment of adult patients with chronic, accelerated, or blast phase Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) with resistance, or intolerance to prior therapy.
Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) have discovered that some cases of glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of primary brain cancer, are caused by the fusion of two adjacent genes.
AB Science SA, a pharmaceutical company specializing in the research, development and commercialization of protein kinase inhibitors (PKIs), announces today that data from the development program of masitinib in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) have been presented as part of three presentations delivered at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2012 Annual Meeting, 1-5 June in Chicago, Illinois.
Patients benefitted from an important design element in the pivotal phase III clinical trial that led to Food and Drug Administration and worldwide regulatory approval of sunitinib for the treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumors resistant to the only other available therapy, according to a study in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Something in the world of medicine is seriously amiss. Unhappy patients gripe about their doctors' brusque manner and give them bad marks on surveys and consumer websites like HealthGrades and Angie's List. They tell tales of being rushed out of the office by harried doctors who miss crucial diagnoses, never look up from their computers during an exam, make errors in prescriptions, and just plain don't listen to their patients. ... And things don't seem much better from the other side of the stethoscope.
Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that surveyed U.S. hematologist-oncologists and managed care organization (MCO) pharmacy directors agree that survival effect is one of the attributes that most influences their decisions regarding prescribing and formulary status determinations, respectively, in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia who have failed first-line tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy.
By reformulating the common cancer drug imatinib (Gleevec), researchers have eliminated morphine tolerance in rats - an important step toward improving the effectiveness of chronic pain management in patients, according to researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Novartis announced today that following a priority review, the US Food and Drug Administration has approved an update to the Gleevec (imatinib mesylate) tablets label to recommend 36 months of treatment after surgery for adult patients with KIT (CD117)-positive gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) who met the risk of recurrence inclusion criteria of the pivotal trial.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today granted Gleevec (imatinib) regular approval for use in adult patients following surgical removal of CD117-positive gastrointestinal stromal tumors.