[Ip-health] Redesigned Gleevec Curbs Heart Related Complications

[Joana Ramos]

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http://www.pharmagazette.com/2007/12/redesigned_gleeveac_curbs_heart_relate=
d_complications.html=0D
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L. Lewis  December 4, 2007=0D
Know More: Research and Development Gleevec, Novartis=0D
Pharma Gazette=0D
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Novartis AG's cancer drug, Gleevec, has been reworked to avoid a rare heart=
 related side effect and to more specifically target a type of stomach canc=
er according to researchers at Rice University in Houston and University of=
 Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.=0D
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Researchers believe their work is important because it shows that relativel=
y minor changes can be engineered into drug to eliminate potentially danger=
ous side effects yet still leaving them effective against disease. Gleevec =
has been on the market since 2001 and is used to treat some forms of leukem=
ia and treat a rare stomach cancer called gastrointestinal stromal tumor. T=
he re-designed drug curbs the life threatening side effect in which the dru=
g can be toxic to the heart, potentially causing heart failure yet remains =
effective in treating the cancers.=0D
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Ariel Fernandez, a Rice bioengineering professor who worked on the research=
 with M.D. Anderson's Gabriel Lopez-Berestein and others, said the redesign=
ed drug is the same as Gleevec except that four atoms -- a carbon and three=
 hydrogen atoms -- have been added at a key point. "The interest of this go=
es way beyond this particular drug and this particular side effect. The ide=
a is we could demonstrate for the first time that you can take a drug with =
side effects and re-engineer it to curb those side effects. Side effects ar=
e the graveyard of most drug-discovery endeavors. So once a drug is shown t=
o have side effects or potentially could have side effects, the drug compan=
y doesn't want to have anything to do with it," said Fernandez.=0D
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Novartis had no part in the research.=0D
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--=0D
Joana Ramos, MSW=0D
Cancer Resources & Advocacy=0D
Seattle WA USA=0D
+1-206-229-2420=0D
http://ramoslink.info/=0D
=0D

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