Chemgenex Says Leukemia Drug Kills Cancer Stem Cells In Study
Omacetaxine mepesuccinate, as the drug is called, killed as much as 90 percent of cancer-causing stem cells in the tests, according to a summary of data presented at the European Hematology Associations meeting in Berlin yesterday.
ChemGenex, based in Geelong, near Melbourne, last week said omacetaxine fought chronic myeloid leukemia in patients who dont respond to Novartis AGs best-selling cancer drug Gleevec. Evidence the drug kills the stem cells that cause the disease shows it could be used in combination with treatments such as Gleevec to rid patients of cancer, ChemGenex said.
“These results raise the possibility of eradicating the dormant malignant stem cells that are thought to be responsible for relapse” in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia, Hagop Kantarjian, chairman of the leukemia department at Houstons M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, said in an e-mailed company statement.
Chronic myeloid leukemia, or CML, is a slow-progressing disease in which a genetic flaw triggers a persons bone marrow to produce too many white blood cells, which dont mature and arent able to perform their normal infection-fighting role. About 4,830 people were diagnosed with the disease in the U.S. last year, with a median age of 67, according to the National Cancer Institute.
ChemGenex shares were unchanged due to a public holiday in Australia today. They rose 1.8 percent to 56.5 Australian cents on June 5, and have gained 82 percent since February, when they reached the lowest in five-and-a-half years.