Investigational Drug Aids Some Leukemia Patients

Studies of patients with a common form of leukemia show that nearly 30% had no traces of the disease following treatment with a new investigational drug, STI571 (Glivec). The study data were presented at the annual meeting of The American Society of Hematology in San Francisco (CA, USA).

The once-daily oral drug belongs to a new class of antiproliferative agents called signal transduction inhibitors (STIs), which have shown the potential to interfere with intracellular signaling pathways that have been implicated in tumor development. The drug is molecularly targeted to the specific chromosomal abnormality, called the Philadelphia chromosome, in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). CML progresses through three distinct phases: the chronic phase (three to four years), the accelerated phase (three to nine months), and blast crisis (three to six months). As the patient moves through these stages, the disease usually becomes increasingly refractory to therapy.

In a chronic phase study of 388 patients who had completed three months of therapy, preliminary data showed an overall response of 37%, of which 13% were complete and 23% were major. In an accelerated phase study of 154 patients treated for four weeks, the overall response rate was 78%, which included 22 patients who have achieved a complete response. In a blast crisis phase study, the overall response rates for 50 previously untreated patients at four weeks were 48%.

The new drug is the product of Novartis, AG (Basel, Switzerland). The company believes the drug will see future use as an alternative to bone marrow transplants and alpha-interferon.



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