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Dec. 6, 2006 -- When first introduced in 2001, Gleevec was hailed as a miracle drug poised to usher in a new age in cancer treatment. Now, five years later, it appears that promise is being fulfilled.
The longest follow-up yet of chronic myeloid leukemialeukemia (CML) patients treated with Gleevec shows a survival rate of 95% after five years. (The survival rate does not count people who died from causes unrelated to CML or stem-cell transplantation). Before the drug?s introduction, about half of patients died within five years of diagnosis.
And there is more good news. Relapse rates seem to be trending down the longer patients stay on the drug. After three years of treatment, 15% of patients in the study experienced relapses. Two years later, that figure had risen by just 2%.
Gleevec was the first treatment to specifically target cancer cells, leaving healthy cells unharmed. It is marketed by Swiss drug maker Novartis. Novartis is a WebMD sponsor.
The five-year data raise hopes that the novel treatment has turned a deadly leukemia into a largely manageable disease, says Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute researcher Brian J. Druker, MD, who led the research team that developed Gleevec.
The findings also bolster hopes that similar drugs will work as well against other cancers. A few of these drugs are already on the market and many more are being investigated.
"My view is that we are at the cusp of a new era in treating cancer," Druker tells WebMD. "Our goal is to convert cancer from a fear diagnosis into a diagnosis that people no longer fear."