excerpt on Gleevec from article in today's Wall Street Journal ...

[Guest guest]

A decade ago, a drug called Gleevec from Novartis SA electrified the cancer

world with its ability to all but cure a deadly form of leukemia thanks to its

effect on an aberrant gene known as the Philadelphia chromosome.

 

It helped transform cancer research into a hunt for genes and other biomarkers

that might direct drug development and guide doctors in selecting treatments for

their patients.

At the meeting, study data showed that two second-generation drugs—Sprycel

from Bristol-Myers Squibb and Tasigna, also from Novartis—outperformed Gleevec

in certain measures of treating chromic myelogenous leukemia.

 

Assuming the drugs, now approved for patients who fail on Gleevec, gain approval

for first-line treatment, physicians and patients will have alternatives to one

of cancer's iconic drugs.

 

Gleevec " was such a revolutionary step, " says Mayer, vice president for

academic affairs at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston. " It is encouraging

that we can find ways to improve the product. "