A new drug has eliminated cancer in almost a quarter of patients with advanced leukaemia, [alt. sp. leukemia] early trial results show, in a breakthrough that also shows promise for the treatment of other cancers.
Melbourne patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia were the first in the world to receive the drug, ABT-199, developed by scientists from two US drug companies in partnership with the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute.
Preliminary findings reported overnight at the American Society of Haematology annual meeting in New Orleans reveal the drug has achieved outstanding results in a phase one trial of 67 patients – clearing cancer in 23 per cent of patients and achieving partial remission in a further 61 per cent.
Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute chair of haematology, John Seymour, said while trials were at an early stage, the drug's success was unprecedented. "Patients on the trial were typically incurable, with an average life expectancy of up to 18 months, so to see complete clearance of cancer in nearly one quarter of these patients after taking this single therapy is incredibly encouraging," he said.
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute haematologist Andrew Roberts said the drug worked by targeting a protein called Bcl-2, which reached levels that were too high in some cancer cells and made them "basically indestructible". He said the protein and its significance in leukaemia was first identified by scientists at the Melbourne-based institute in 1988, and had long been a target of scientists trying to develop anti-cancer drugs.
Professor Seymour said patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia typically had chemotherapy treatment once a month for between four and 12 months, and patients in the trial had undergone up to 11 such treatments without any success.
"It is still very early in the development of the drug and learning how to best give it is still ahead of us but the early signals are profoundly encouraging," he said.
Professor Seymour said the drug's rapid killing of leukaemia cells, whose chemical contents were then released into the bloodstream, meant doses needed to be increased gently and patients closely monitored.
Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia is the most common type of leukaemia in Australia, with about 1000 people diagnosed each year. The disease caused 309 deaths in 2007. A phase two trial to establish the drug's safety and effectiveness in a larger group of patients in Australia, the US and Europe is under way and could lead to approval for wider use by regulatory authorities within three years.
The drug, taken as a pill, also shows promise for the treatment of other cancers reliant on the Bcl-2 protein including some lymphomas, breast and prostate cancers.
One patient who has already benefited is Camberwell father-of-three Robert Oblak, 48, who was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia in 2004. The disease went into remission after chemotherapy but returned aggressively last year, when he was offered a place on the drug trial.
Mr Oblak said he was "absolutely over the moon" with blood tests last month showing he had no trace of the disease. He said he felt very fortunate to benefit from world-leading medical research in Melbourne.
Felicity Arbuthnot is a freelance journalist, who has visited Iraq on many occasions since the end of the Gulf War. She has just returned to Britain from her eighteenth visit. In the first of a two-part interview she explained to Barbara Slaughter how she became involved. http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=47998127
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