New Drug Raises Hope For Leukaemia Patients

There is encouraging news for leukaemia patients. The tests GlaxoSmithKline PLC had been conducting with its experimental leukaemia drug have shown positive results. These results have been found in patients who did not respond well to any other treatment.

These conclusions have been reached upon after examining the reactions the 140 patients who were administered ofatumumab treatments. Earlier it was found that the patients suffering from chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) were resistant to fludarabine and alemtuzumab, and it only deteriorated their condition.

According to company officials, they could seek the drug’s US regulatory approval by the end of 2008. For further development of the drug, the British drug maker is working in collaboration with the Danish biotech, Genmab A/S.

Chief Executive Officer of Genmab, Lisa N Drakeman said everyone was excited to see the result of the two companies’ joint efforts. She further added that Genmab was now on its way to filling the first ever marketing application for an antibody. The team was looking forward to continue the work with GSK, she said.

Leukaemia is basically a form of cancerdefine which affects the blood and bone marrow of the patients. For long, numerous studies and experiments have been conducted to find out its cure, but this is by far the best result of all the experiments conducted.

GlaxoSmithKline and Genmab are also considering the use of ofatumumab (a human antibody), for curing various types of lymphoma, rheumatoid arthritis as well as forms of multiple sclerosis.