Enrollment of patients into the trial, which will seek to establish the toxicities and maximum tolerated dose of Cloretazine in patients, and observe the efficacy of the drug, began at the University of Texas’ Anderson cancer center.
The American Cancer Society estimates that 9,730 patients will be diagnosed in the US with CLL in 2005 and 4,600 patients will die from the disease. In CLL, the bone marrow makes too many lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). As the amount of lymphocytes increases, there is less room in the blood and bone marrow for healthy white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets. This may result in infection, anemia and bleeding, and ultimately, in death.
A small proportion of CLL patients develop Richter’s Syndrome, in which the disease progresses to what is more characteristic of an aggressive lymphoma.
Dr O’Brien, professor of medicine at the University of Texas, and director of the study stated, “Options for treatment of patients with refractory or relapsed CLL are limited at this time. We are hopeful that Cloretazine can achieve meaningful remissions in this setting.”