Novartis Test Drug Shows Promise in Blood Cancer [WSJ]
Tasigna Aids People Who Don't Respond To Gleevec Therapy
By ANITA GREIL
December 12, 2006
ZURICH -- Swiss drug maker Novartis AG said an intermediate-stage study showed that its experimental drug Tasigna helped many blood-cancer patients who no longer respond to treatment with its Gleevec drug.
Patients in the chronic phase of chronic myeloid leukemia were given Tasigna for six months. In about half of 279 patients, Tasigna significantly reduced or eliminated the presence of blood cells containing a defective chromosome that characterizes the disease. About three-quarters of patients achieved normal white blood cell counts.
All of the patients had developed resistance to Gleevec -- the standard treatment for the condition -- or didn't tolerate Gleevec. The study was presented at an American Society of Hematology meeting in Orlando, Florida.
Hagop Kantarjian, chairman of the leukemia department at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, who helped carry out the Tasigna study, said the data show "we have a very safe and effective second-line therapy for people who have failed" on Gleevec.
Gleevec, launched five years ago as one of the first of so-called targeted cancer drugs, is Novartis's second-best selling drug with sales of $2.17 billion in 2005.
Tasigna, known generically as nilotinib, and Gleevec, or imatinib, both work by signaling to a specific gene to stop producing excessive white blood cells. Tasigna was designed to also work in cases when this gene had mutated. Such mutations can cause resistance to the Gleevec treatment.
The study researchers said Tasigna wasn't associated with many of the side effects seen with Gleevec, such as fluid retention and superficial edema.
Novartis, based in Basel, Switzerland, recently submitted Tasigna for U.S. and European Union regulatory approval. James Shannon, head of drug development at Novartis, said recently that he expects global peak sales of Gleevec and Tasigna combined to exceed $3.5 billion.
David Epstein, who heads Novartis's oncology business, said the company plans to start a trial that directly compares Tasigna to Gleevec in the first half of 2007.
-- Jeanne Whalen in London contributed to this article.
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