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news.Researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Duke University Medical Center have said that the drug MK-0457, developed by Merck & Co, has shown clinical activity in patients with drug resistant blood cancers.
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The study evaluated patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia, Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphocytic leukemia and myeloproliferative disorders, or MPD, a group of blood diseases that can develop into leukemia. These patients are resistant to other leukemia drugs such as Novartis' Gleevec and Sprycel.
The phase I dose escalation trial evaluated patients with advanced leukemia's and myeloproliferative disorders who were treated with MK-0457 given as a five-day intravenous infusion every two-to-three weeks. Nearly all patients with the resistant form of leukemia responded to MK-0457.
“MK-0457 is the first compound to show clinical activity in patients with these treatment-resistant forms of blood cancer. Based on these initial results, we are moving forward with a broader phase II trial in these patients,” said Stephen Friend, executive vice president, Oncology, Merck Research Laboratories.
Merck & Co said that larger clinical studies are needed to confirm the anticancer effects of MK-0457.