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HOUSTON, Dec. 3, 2000 — A treatment for leukemia that patients say has fewer side effects than
aspirin is surprising doctors at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson
Cancer Center with its success.
The first treatment for chronic myelogenous leukemia, a drug called STI571,
was a central topic at a recent medical conference in San Francisco.
M.D. Anderson researchers reported that last year all of its 31 patients
with chronic myelogenous leukemia, or CML, who took the drug went into
complete remission. Lead investigator Dr. Moshe Talpaz called the pill "the
holy grail we are looking for in our business," the Houston Chronicle
reported Sunday.
"I've been in this field 20 years, and this drug is by far better than any
other developed for CML."
At M.D. Anderson this year, 550 patients with chronic CML resistant to
conventional treatment took the drug, and in more than 90 percent, their
blood was normal after six months of treatment, according to research
reported Saturday in San Francisco at a meeting of the American Society of
Hematology.
In about half the patients, the chromosomal abnormality that initially
causes the leukemia also disappeared.
Last year, Gerald Bourque of Houston expected to die when he didn't respond
to standard treatments and his blood cancer rapidly progressed into the
fatal phase. He joined a study of the experimental pill at M.D. Anderson
last December, taking four capsules a day. Within a few weeks, Bourque's
blood returned to normal, and has stayed that way.
"This has been a godsend," said the 62-year-old sales engineer. "I have
energy I didn't realize I had. It's unbelievable."
The drug, developed by Brian Druker, a researcher at Oregon Health Sciences
University in collaboration with drug manufacturer Novartis Pharmaceuticals,
focuses on shutting down the enzyme that causes the cancer without harming
healthy cells.
"I will tell you, the hematology community is excited about the prospects
for the approach this drug took," said Dr. Ed Benz, president of the
hematology society and president of the Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber
Cancer Institute in Boston. "We need many, many more studies and patients to
know exactly how powerful this drug will be, but the early results are
promising."
CML causes a proliferation of white blood cells, which begin to outnumber
other blood cells and flood the body's organs and arrest their function. It
affects about 4,500 Americans each year and is caused by a defect in a
chromosome found in bone marrow cells. An abnormal enzyme is produced by the
defect, which makes for the abundance of white blood cells.
"I've been in this field 20 years, and this drug is by far better than any
other developed for CML," said researcher Dr. Hagop Kantarjian, chairman of
the department of leukemia developmental research at M.D. Anderson.
Novartis Pharmaceuticals, the drug's manufacturer, expects it to become
available commercially next year. A third-phase trial, enrolling more than
1,000 patients in the United States and Canada, is in progress.
The drug will also be used in clinical trials of glioblastoma, a brain
tumor, and gastrointestinal stromal tumors.
Source: The Associated Press
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