New Drug May Offer New Hope For Leukemia Patients
A second-generation cancer drug offers one last shot at life for leukemia patients who have not been helped by the "miracle" drug Gleevec, doctors reported on Thursday.
Tests on mice show the experimental drug overcomes virtually all of the genetic mutations that cause some cancers to resist treatment with Gleevec, the researchers report.
Gleevec, made by Swiss drug company Novartis AG and sold in Europe under the name Glivec, was the first "targeted" cancer drug.
The findings, published in Friday's issue of the journal Science, add to evidence that precisely targeted cancer drugs can be designed quickly and rushed into testing for the most desperate cancer patients.