Word: gleevec
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Some of the latest weapons in Big Pharma's arsenal result from that understanding. Gleevec, for instance, treats one form of leukemia by zeroing in on the Philadelphia (Ph) chromosome, that part of the genome that directs bone marrow to keep making abnormal white blood cells. Because of drugs like Gleevec and therapies such as bone-marrow and stem-cell transplants, there are 12 million people walking around today who are classified as survivors...
Such drugs can also have other applications. That's what guides Novartis' continuing research on Gleevec, a revolutionary drug initially directed against a rare leukemia. Responding to petitions from patients, Vasella pushed to complete clinical trials of the drug in just 32 months. It was recently approved to treat a second rare cancer that affects the stomach. Now Novartis is evaluating its effects in combination with other drugs on more common cancers, such as those of the prostate...
...receptor, a binding site that is found on the surface of many cells but is overabundant in about 25% of breast cancers. Other smart drugs interfere with the same growth factor, using slightly different chemical strategies to do so, and some have proved useful in a range of cancers. Gleevec, for example, which was approved in 2001, prevents growth factors from attaching to cancer cells and activating an enzyme called tyrosine kinase, which regulates cell division...
...Gleevec reversed the odds for patients suffering from two rare cancers - chronic myelogenous leukemia and gastrointestinal stromal tumors - for which there had been no effective treatments. In a matter of months, patients who were out of options had their lives back, and while their cancer was not cured, it was under control, at least for a while. Other new drugs, including Tarceva and Iressa, also halt tumor growth by messing with tyrosine kinase. The key to developing such drugs, says Glaspy, is "torturing cancer cells, and getting them to confess to us which pathways they are dependent...
...chemical entities in clinical development. In the past, I did choose darlings, you know, and they all failed. So I've stopped doing that. The only time I engage myself is when I see something getting orphaned within the company--and when I think it's very important, like Gleevec [a $2 billion cancer drug...