Gleevec Provides Impressive Five-Year Survival in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

Gleevec (imatinib) produced an 89% 5-year survival rate in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), according to a study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Researchers randomized some 550 Philadelphia chromosome-positive patients to receive Gleevec and another 550 to receive interferon alfa plus cytarabine. The FDA's approval of Gleevec prompted many patients in the manufacturer-sponsored, open-label study to leave the control arm, but the results reported today focus on the group who were initially randomized to receive Gleevec.

Writing in Journal Watch Oncology and Hematology, Dr. Michael E. Williams comments: "These impressive results confirm imatinib as standard therapy for initial treatment of CML patients."