New Drugs on the Horizon

More about Gleevec
This comes from a mailing list I belong to, but is interesting in terms of the drugs to watch for over the next decade:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's hard to believe how far we've come in CML treatment in just 10 years. To think that 10 years ago, we had little to hope for other than the horrors of Interferon but now the number of drugs that are being developed to treat CML is at a point where it's actually hard to keep up with all the information.

In case any of you are interested in learning more about the drugs that are being investigated. Here is a list of a few that I was able to find.

1) Sprycel. This drug is now approved in many countries and is also known as Dasatinib or "the BMS drug". It's a dual bcr-abl and Src inhibitor and many of our list members are already taking it.

2) Tasigna. This is widely available in trials around the world and is also known as AMN 107 or Nilotinib. It's a bcr-abl inhibitor much like Gleevec but more potent and again, a number of our list members are already taking it.

3) Bosutinib. This is another drug that is being used in trials around the world and is also known as SKI 606. It's a dual bcr-abl and src inhibitor.

4) INNO-406. This is a Bcr-Abl and Lyn-kinase inhibitor that is available at some of the bigger trial centers.

5) MK-0457. This is a drug that is being used to treat people with the dreaded T315I mutation. It's an aurora kinase inhibitor.

6) Homoharringtonine or HHT is actually an older drug that is also being used in various trials for the T315I mutation.

7) KW-2449 is an aurora kinase inhibitor that I don't know much about other than it's being trialed in a few of the bigger centers.

8) Lonafarnib is a farnesyl transferase inhibitor being used in some trial centers.

9) GX15-07MS is a drug that is being used in some centers for blast phase CML.

10) ON012380 is a drug that is supposed to be 10 times more potent than Gleevec and is being trialled in some Gleevec resistant patients.

I'm sure there are even more drugs out there in the pipe line that I've forgotten to mention but as you can see, we're living in very exciting times.

Here's a great website that lists some of the drug trials that are being done at MD Anderson if anyone wants to check them out further: http://tinyurl.com/2pnprg

And this site gives a brief summary of the Abl and Src inhibitors. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/559294_8