Efficacy and safety of a specific inhibitor of the BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase in chronic myeloid leukemia.

The authors showed that the experimental drug (STI571) Imatinib, sold under the brand names Gleevec and Glivec,
1) was well tolerated and had very significant antileukemic activity in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). 
2) Adverse effects were minimal.
3) Complete hematologic responses were observed in 53 of 54 pts. treated with doses of 300 mg. or more. Cytogenetic responses occurred in 29, and 7 of those had complete cytogenetic remissions.
4) At the end of the paper they stated, “These results show that the BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase is critical to the development of CML and demonstrate the potential for the development of anticancer drugs based on the specific
molecular abnormality in a human cancer. “

Order of authorship in the original publication: Drucker, Talpaz, Resta. Full text available from nejm.org at this link.

(Thanks to Juan Weiss for this reference and its interpretation.)