Targeted Cancer Drugs (Imatinib)
Imatinib, approved in 2001, blocks the BCR-ABL protein that drives chronic myeloid leukemia and turned a usually fatal blood cancer into a long-term manageable disease.
Open in the interactive tree →In 1960 Peter Nowell and David Hungerford described the Philadelphia chromosome in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML); Janet Rowley showed in 1973 that it is a swap between chromosomes 9 and 22, and by 1984 the fused BCR-ABL gene was mapped. A team led by Nicholas Lydon at Ciba-Geigy developed STI-571, later named imatinib, which switches off the BCR-ABL enzyme, and Brian Druker led the clinical studies. Cancer disappeared in most early-phase patients in the 1998 phase 1 trial and the FDA approved the drug in May 2001. Druker, Lydon and Charles Sawyers received the 2009 Lasker-DeBakey award for turning a fatal cancer into a manageable chronic condition.
Prerequisites
- Oncogenes (Cancer-Driving Genes)1976The BCR-ABL cancer gene drives the leukemia that imatinib blocks.
Unlocks
- Curing CanceropenThe first targeted pill that made a leukemia chronic is the template for precision cancer drugs.
Sources
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