Gleevec keeps a leukemia in check for more than a decade: Study
The cancer drug Gleevec appears to keep chronic myeloid leukemia at bay a decade into treatment -- with no signs of additional safety risks, a new study finds.
Gleevec -- known generically as imatinib -- was hailed as a wonder drug when it was introduced in 2001 for treating chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).
CML is a type of blood cancer that strikes about 5,000 Americans each year, according to the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI).
Before Gleevec, a CML diagnosis amounted to a death sentence, the institute said. Now, most cases can be controlled, with either Gleevec or related drugs that have been developed since then.
The new findings offer more evidence that the early hype around Gleevec was correct, said lead researcher Dr. Andreas Hochhaus, of Jena University Hospital in Germany.
Of more than 500 CML patients given Gleevec as their initial therapy, slightly more 83 percent were alive 10 years later, the study found.
Essentially, their life expectancy was almost normal, Hochhaus said.
In addition, the study found no evidence of any new, long-range risks from the drug.
In the early days, Hochhaus explained, there was concern that Gleevec could eventually raise the odds of other health conditions, such as heart disease.
So the new safety data should be reassuring for patients, according to Hochhaus.
He and his colleagues report the findings in the March 9 New England Journal of Medicine. Novartis Pharmaceuticals, which makes Gleevec, funded the research.
The study offers some valuable information, said Dr. Michael Mauro, a leukemia specialist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
With CML, he said, were in a unique situation where we now expect patients to survive for a long time.
So its important to have studies that track patients long-range outlook -- including any unexpected complications, according to Mauro.
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