Gleevec Drug for Leukemia – Cancer Patients
In the Dr. OZ show today, Dr. Oz featured the benefits of the Gleevec drug. Gleevec is an FDA approved drug for the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) and other cancers.
According to the website, GLEEVEC (imatinib mesylate) tablets are indicated for:
– Newly diagnosed adult patients with Philadelphia chromosome–positive chronic myeloid leukemia (Ph+ CML) in the chronic phase.
– Adult patients with myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative diseases (MDS/MPD) associated with PDGFR (platelet-derived growth factor receptor) gene rearrangements
– Patients with Ph+ CML in blast crisis (BC), accelerated phase (AP), or in the chronic phase (CP) after failure of interferon-alpha therapy
– Adult patients with relapsed or refractory Ph+ acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph+ ALL)
– Adult patients with myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative diseases (MDS/MPD) associated with PDGFR (platelet-derived growth factor receptor) gene rearrangements
– Adult patients with aggressive systemic mastocytosis (ASM) without the D816V c-KIT mutation or with unknown mutational status
– Adult patients with hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) and/or chronic eosinophilic leukemia (CEL) who have the FIP1L1-PDGFR? fusion kinase and for patients with HES and/or CEL who are FIP1L1-PDGFR? fusion kinase–negative or unknown
– Adult patients with unresectable, recurrent, and/or metastatic dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP)
– Patients with KIT (CD117)—positive gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) that cannot be surgically removed, and/or have spread to other parts of the body
– Adult patients post-surgery who have had their GISTs completely removed