Test IDs Patients Who Won't Be Helped By Standard Treatment
(Hong Kong) -- Researchers say they've developed a test to identify patients who may not benefit from the standard form of treatment for leukemia or cancer of the blood cells. That treatment is a drug called imatinib. Writing in the journal "Clinical Cancer Research," the researchers said their finding was key because resistance to imatinib -- sold by Novartis under the brand name Gleevac -- is usually seen in relapse patients. And, those patients in turn tend to deteriorate rapidly if given the wrong treatment.< |