The medication was developed by the five winners of the Alpert Prize. David Baltimore, president and professor of biology at the California Institute of Technology, and Dr. Owen N. Witte, professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, did the basic science research. Dr. Alex Matter of Novartis Pharma AG and Nicholas Lydon, of Amgen Inc., did preclinical work in drug development. And Dr. Brian J. Druker, professor of medicine at Oregon Health Sciences University, pioneered the clinical investigations. When the enzyme is turned on, it can lead to uncontrolled cell division.
Most patients die within five years of diagnosis.
She finally got in a clinical trial at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and is still on the drug. She said she may have to take it for the rest of her life, but isn't complaining. The drug is one of the first to show the promise of gene therapy. CML is caused by a genetic anomaly triggered by the rearrangement of chromosomes 9 and 22. Each year's winners are now selected by a panel established at the Harvard Medical School.