Novel drug fights leukemia
By Ben Harder
From San Diego, at a meeting of the American Society of Hematology
An experimental drug helps a small but significant fraction of people with acute myeloid leukemia and causes minimal side effects, research suggests.
The modest success of the drug tipifarnib is encouraging because the blood cancer is difficult to treat, especially in older patients, says Judith Karp of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore. Side effects, including weakened immunity, can kill more than 30 percent of elderly patients who receive standard chemotherapy.