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Gleevec, the targeted cancer pill, delivers more good news to patients
Date:12/9/2007

PORTLAND, Ore. Gleevec, the targeted cancer pill that has saved more than 100,000 lives, now is saving more children with a dire leukemia, as well as preventing disease progression with long term use in adults with chronic myeloid leukemia.

Data at this weekends meeting continues to show how much Gleevec has completely changed the outlook for so many, many patients facing cancer, said Brian Druker, M.D., director of the OHSU Cancer Institute.

At the plenary session of the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology researchers delivered news that Gleevec has been shown to improve outcomes for children with Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph+ ALL).

Ph+ ALL is the childhood leukemia with the worst prognosis and the Childrens Oncology Group study shows that adding Gleevec to the treatment almost completely reverses this poor prognosis. The Childrens Oncology Group is a worldwide clinical trial cooperative supported by the National Cancer Institute, a branch of the National Institutes of Health.

Also released at the conference is new data from the largest clinical trial in Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) that showed Gleevec, with long-term use, can prevent progression to advanced stages of the disease.

Six-year results of the International Randomized Interferon versus STI571 (IRIS) study for which Druker served as principal investigator, demonstrated that continuous treatment with Gleevec produced a declining rate of relapse over time. The downward trend in the risk of disease progression while on Gleevec has continued since year two of the study. Remarkably, between years five and six, no patients progressed to an advanced phase of the disease.

The news about Gleevec and the childhood leukemia study as well as the six-year IRIS study that shows there is no progression to advanced phase in CML means that more and more patients
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Contact: Christine Decker
deckerch@ohsu.edu
503-494-8231
Oregon Health & Science University
Source:Eurekalert

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