Gleevec, also known as imatinib mesylate or STI571 (Signal Transduction Inhibitor), is the new oral drug sponsored by the pharmaceutical company Novartis. The drug was approved on the 10th of May 2001. The FDA (the US Food and Drug Administration) gave the final green light after only 2 and a half months of "accelerated approval". This fast type of drug approving takes place for life-threating illness drugs who are most likely to give a clinical benefit. Very fast approving, but very long research for Dr. Matter who has been working with Novartis (Ciba-Geigy at that time), when he headed a research team in 1983, focused mainly on inhibition of kinases (just like BCR-ABL). In 1990 his team had discovered BCR-ABL inhibitors and was now focusing his efforts in one particular compound, which today became Gleevec. The first clinical trial was in June 1998, and the company, impressed by the amazing results, invested huge amount of resources to finish the product. The 27th of February 2001, only 32 months after the first clinical test, Novartis was submitting request for the drug approval. Dr. Matter and his team (David Baltimore, Brian J. Druker, Nicholas B. Lydon, Owne N. Witte, Howard Hughes and David Saxon) won this year's WARREN ALPERT FOUNDATION SCIENTIFIC PRIZE, as a honor to their research. The award is administered by Harvard University, and consists of $150,000. The recommended dosage for the pill is 400 mg per day for those affected by CML in Chronic phase; 600 mg for those in Accelerated Phase or Blast Crisis. It is better to get the pill with a large meal and some water to prevent stomach irritation. So far Imatinib has been predicted to give clinical benefits mostly to patients affected by Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, but the drug might be effective on patients affected by GISTS (a kind of stomach cancers) as well. Reason to believe so was the incredible case of a 50 years old Finnish woman affected by a gist who has gotten better and better in only one month of Gleevec therapy. Though this has not been included in the official data as the new drug has been approved as a cure to CML and NOT Gastrointestinal sarcoms. Novartis has garanteed the cure to anybody who requests it, also uninsured indigent patients. DOCUMEDICS is taking care of anylising the patients situation and decide whether starting the Imatinib cure.
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