Posted by rob on February 28, 2005 under Uncategorized | 
NCCN Releases Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia Chapters of the NCCN Drugs & Biologics Compendium
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JENKINTOWN, Pa.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Feb. 28, 2005–The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) announces the release of Chapters 4 and 5 of the NCCN Drugs & Biologics Compendium(TM): Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia.
“The NCCN Drugs & Biologics Compendium contains authoritative and definitive information about the appropriate use of drugs and biologics in the care of patients with leukemia – information that decision-makers at insurance and managed care companies and pharmacy benefits managers can use to establish coverage policy,” said William T. McGivney, Ph.D., CEO of the NCCN. “With the release of the leukemia chapters, NCCN utilization information adds to a long list of scientific, evaluative products to facilitate decision-making about appropriate cancer care.”
The NCCN Drugs & Biologics Compendium outlines the appropriate uses of drugs and biologics in the care of cancer patients, as derived from the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology(TM) — recognized and applied nationally as the standard for clinical policy in oncology. Listed uses include FDA-approved indications as well as those beyond FDA labeling. As with the guidelines, the Compendium spans the continuum of cancer care from early stage to advanced stage disease, and from supportive to palliative care.
Oncology care professionals can visit www.nccn.org to access the most up-to-date version of the NCCN Drugs & Biologics Compendium online or to request a free printed copy.
For more information on the NCCN Drugs & Biologics Compendium and other NCCN programs, please contact NCCN at 215-690-0254 or at www.nccn.org.
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), an alliance of 19 of the world’s leading cancer centers, is an authoritative source of information to help patients and health professionals make informed decisions about cancer care. Through the collective expertise of its member institutions, the NCCN develops, updates, and disseminates a complete library of clinical practice guidelines. These guidelines are the standard for clinical policy in oncology. NCCN’s complete spectrum of programs emphasizes improving the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of oncology practice. Programs include: Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology(TM), Drugs & Biologics Compendium(TM), Treatment Guidelines for Patients, the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, Leukemia Resource Line, educational conferences and symposia for clinicians, Oncology Outcomes Project, Clinical Trials Network, Cancer Case Manager, and collaborations with managed care organizations.
NCCN member institutions include:
– City of Hope Cancer Center
– Dana-Farber/Partners CancerCare
– Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center
– Fox Chase Cancer Center
– Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah
– Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/Seattle Cancer Care Alliance
– Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute at The Ohio State University
– The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins
– Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University
– Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
– H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute at the University of South Florida
– Roswell Park Cancer Institute
– St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital/University of Tennessee Cancer Institute
– Stanford Hospital & Clinics
– University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center
– UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center
– University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center
– UNMC Eppley Cancer Center at The Nebraska Medical Center
– The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
For more information, visit www.nccn.org.
NCCN Releases Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia Chapters of the NCCN Drugs & Biologics Compendium
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By Linda McCartyThe Winchester Star
If life starts to get her down, Susan Schabos pick-me-up is her 22-year-old son, Tommy Cleaver.
Hes really had a lot to overcome, and he gives me strength and a positive outlook on life, said Schabo, who lives in Winchester.
Susan Schabo of Winchester said she is inspired by her sons ability to excel in football and continue on with his college studies while he had undergone treament for chronic myelogenous leukemia. (Photos by Ginger Perry)Cleaver, a Maryland resident, was studying and playing football at Middlebury College in Vermont in 2001, when he was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia, a bone-marrow cancer.
I was playing football in the fall of 2001 and had a hemorrhage in my right eye, Cleaver said recently, while visiting his mother, sister, Amber Schabo, 14, and brother, Joshua Schabo, 13.
Following extensive tests, doctors discovered that Cleavers white blood cell count was extremely high.
They did a bone marrow biopsy, Cleaver said, and diagnosed CNL.
Cleaver said he was in shock when he heard the diagnosis.
But I didnt dwell on it too much, he said. I just had a lot of faith.
Schabo was home when she received word of her sons illness.
When I got up there, I was falling apart, and he was holding me together, Schabo said. He comforted me.
Cleaver was transferred for treatment from a hospital in Vermont to Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore. He had a round of chemotherapy and then was put on an experimental drug, Gleevec.
Ive been in remission for three years today, Cleaver said on Feb. 14. Theres no cure, but hopefully, Ill stay in remission.
Cleaver missed that semester in school, but returned during the spring of 2002 and began playing football again that year.
My doctor wasnt really thrilled that I played football, but I had my blood checked weekly during the season to make sure it was OK, he said, and it was.
Football helped Cleaver to cope with his illness, he said. It was my release from the situation.
As a result, he excelled as a player. By the time Cleaver graduated in January, he was his schools leading receiver and had earned records for most catches during a game and season and most yards receiving during a game, season, and career.
During Cleavers junior and senior years, he was first-team, all-conference selection, and during his senior year he was a first-team, All New England selection.
In December, Cleaver was one of 15 student athletes to be named a 2004 National Scholar Athlete by the National Football Foundation and the College Hall of Fame.
Right now, Cleaver is looking for a job in either investment banking or commercial real estate and wants to live in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., or possibly New York City.
Although Cleavers disease isnt curable, he doesnt dwell on the possibility that it may reoccur again.
I dont see how worrying would help, he said. Im a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. I want to learn from this and grow as a result. If I come out of remission, I will cross that road when I get there.
Tommy has truly taught me not to give up, and to have faith, Schabo said. He is my inspiration.
Link: http://www.winchesterstar.com/TheWinchesterStar/050228/Area_illness.asp
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New Drug May Be Formidable Adversary For Hard To Treat Leukemia
As scientists uncover the precise molecular mechanisms that underlie effective cancer treatments, they gain invaluable insight into why predominantly successful treatments fail for some patients. A new study published in the February issue of Cancer Cell reveals how detailed information about the action of an existing drug was used to design a compound that is effective against some notoriously treatment resistant cancer cases.
Despite the resounding success of anticancer drug imatinib (Gleevec) as a treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), a small but growing number of patients develop resistance to the drug and relapse. Imatinib inhibits the activity of Bcr-Abl, a protein that is abnormally active in most CML patients. Relapse and resistance to imatinib in patients with advanced disease is linked to the emergence of additional mutant forms of Bcr-Abl that are not inhibited by imatinib.
A group led by Dr. James D. Griffin from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute working with scientists at Novartis Pharma AG in Switzerland used data obtained from structural examination of the molecular interaction between imatinib and Abl to design AMN107, a compound that has a stronger and more complete molecular association with Abl. AMN107 effectively blocked proliferation of Bcr-Abl dependent cells derived from CML patients and was an even more potent inhibitor of Bcr-Abl than imatinib. Importantly, AMN107 inhibited the growth of cells expressing many Bcr-Abl mutants that were resistant to imatinib and oral administration of AMN107 prolonged survival in imatinib-resistant CML mouse models.
Phase I clinical trials with AMN107 have just started. “If human clinical trials validate the effectiveness of AMN107 demonstrated in the preclinical studies reported here, it may be possible to either use AMN107 in selected patients with imatinib resistance, or to use both agents together, simultaneously or sequentially,” says Dr. Griffin. The researchers are hopeful that combined therapy may suppress emergence of treatment resistant Abl mutants and that availability of novel, high potency, Abl tyrosine kinase inhibitors will usher in a new generation of clinical studies that may result in additional major advances in the therapy of hard to treat leukemia.
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Ellen Weisberg, Paul W. Manley, Werner Breitenstein, Josef Brüggen, Sandra W. Cowan-Jacob, Arghya Ray, Brian Huntly, Doriano Fabbro, Gabriele Fendrich, Elizabeth Hall-Meyers, Andrew L. Kung, Jürgen Mestan, George Q. Daley, Linda Callahan, Laurie Catley, Cara Cavazza, Azam Mohammed, Donna Neuberg, Renee D. Wright, D. Gary Gilliland, and James D. Griffin: “Characterization of AMN107, a selective inhibitor of native and mutant Bcr-Abl”
The researchers included Ellen Weisberg, Arghya Ray, Elizabeth Hall-Meyers, Linda Callahan, Laurie Catley, Cara Cavazza, Donna Neuberg, and James D. Griffin of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston; Paul W. Manley, Werner Breitenstein, Josef Brüggen, Sandra W. Cowan-Jacob, Doriano Fabbro, Gabriele Fendrich, and Jürgen Mestan of Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research in Basel; Brian Huntly, Renee D. Wright, and D. Gary Gilliland of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston; Andrew L. Kung of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children’s Hospital in Boston; and George Q. Daley and Azam Mohammed of Children’s Hospital in Boston. This research was supported by NIH grants, a Specialized Center of Research Award from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, grants from the National Cancer Institute, the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. P.W.M., W.B., J.B., S.W.C.-J., D.F., G.F., and J.M. are employees of Novartis Pharma AG, Basel, Switzerland. J.D.G has a financial interest with Novartis Pharma AG.
Publishing in Cancer Cell, Volume 7, Number 2, February 2005, pages 129-141. http://www.cancercell.org/
This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Cell Press.
URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/02/050218131439.htm
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Pope John Paul II, flanked by Vatican Secretary of State cardinal Angelo Sodano, waves to the small crowd from behind a window at Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital, Sunday.
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A newborn zebra stands with his mother.
