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Gastrointestinal Tumor Patients Live Longer on Cancer Drug
Posted 28 Mar 2012 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, March 28 – Extended treatment with the cancer drug Gleevec leads to improved survival rates in patients who have had surgery to remove a gastrointestinal stromal tumor and have a high risk of cancer recurrence, a new study says. "Gastrointestinal stromal tumors are usually found in the stomach or the small intestine but can occur at any site along the gastrointestinal tract and rarely elsewhere within the abdominal cavity," according to background information in the study by Finnish researchers. Treatment with Gleevec (imatinib) for a year after surgery has improved recurrence-free survival in patients, but disease recurrence is common during the first year after imatinib treatment stops, suggesting that one year of treatment may not be long enough. The study compared outcomes among 200 patients who received 400 milligrams (mg) of imatinib per day for 12 months and 200 ... Read more
Related support groups: Gleevec, Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor, Imatinib
Gleevec Approval Widened to Include Rare Cancer
Posted 1 Feb 2012 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 – U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for the Novartis drug Gleevec has been expanded to include adults who have had surgical removal of CD117-positive gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), the agency said in a news release. GIST is a rare cancer that forms in cells that line the walls of the GI tract, including the stomach. Such cells play a role in food digestion and other bodily processes, the FDA said. Gleevec, first approved in 2001 to treat a genetic disease called Philadelphia chromosome positive chronic myeloid leukemia, has been sanctioned subsequently for a number of forms of GIST. Gleevec's label will be updated to include clinical study results about CD117-positive GIST. The drug significantly increased patient survival when taken for 36 months, compared to the standard 12 months, the FDA said. Common clinical side effects of Gleevec included ... Read more
FDA Approves Gleevec for Expanded Use in Patients with Rare Gastrointestinal Cancer
Posted 31 Jan 2012 by Drugs.com
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today granted Gleevec (imatinib) regular approval for use in adult patients following surgical removal of CD117-positive gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). Today’s action also highlights an increase in overall patient survival when the drug is taken for 36 months rather than the standard 12 months of treatment. Gleevec was originally granted accelerated approval for the treatment of advanced or metastatic GIST in 2002. In 2008 Gleevec received a subsequent accelerated approval for adjuvant use that is for the treatment of patients with GIST who had had potentially curative resection (surgical removal) of GIST tumors, but who were at increased risk for a recurrence. The accelerated approval program provides earlier patient access to promising new drugs while the confirmatory clinical trials are being conducted. Regular approval for the m ... Read more
Cancer Patients Should Ask Doctors to Use Simple Terms
Posted 28 Sep 2011 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 28 – Cancer patients are often faced with many difficult-to-understand treatment choices that can have serious side effects and even mean the difference between life and death. That's why it's crucial that patients insist doctors use plain language in explaining the options, advised Angela Fagerlin, an associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and a researcher at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center. "People are making life and death decisions that may affect their survival and they need to know what they're getting themselves into. Cancer treatments and tests can be serious. Patients need to know what kind of side effects they might experience as a result of the treatment they undergo," Fagerlin said in a university news release. She and her colleagues outlined a number of tips to help patients get the information they need ... Read more
Related support groups: Cancer, Methotrexate, Provera, Breast Cancer, Lupron, Accutane, Depo-Provera, Prostate Cancer, Tamoxifen, Femara, Arimidex, Lupron Depot, Medroxyprogesterone, Claravis, Gleevec
Newer Drugs Beat Gleevec in Head-to-Head Trials
Posted 7 Jun 2010 by Drugs.com
SATURDAY, June 5 – Two new drugs, dasatinib (Sprycel) and nilotinib (Tasigna), appear better than imatinib (Gleevec) in treating patients with newly diagnosed chronic myeloid leukemia and should be considered as first-line treatments, two new studies show. The findings, which should change clinical practice, are to be presented Saturday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago and were simultaneously published online June 5 in the New England Journal of Medicine. "Both next-generation inhibitors of BCR-ABL [dasatinib and nilotinib] are superior to Gleevec in treating chronic myeloid leukemia when compared head-to-head after one year of follow-up," said Dr. Charles L. Sawyers, chair of the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and author of an accompanying ... Read more
Related support groups: Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML), Gleevec, Tasigna, Sprycel, Dasatinib, Nilotinib, Imatinib
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Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML), Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor, Systemic Mastocytosis, Myeloproliferative Disorders, Myelodysplastic Diseases, Hypereosinophilic Syndrome, Chronic Eosinophilic Leukemia, Dermatofibrosarcoma Protuberans