The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7253 p819
14 June 2003

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Meeting summaries  7 June   14 June

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PKC 412 active in acute leukaemia

PKC 412, a drug that targets an abnormal version of FLT3 tyrosine kinase, has shown encouraging results in patients with advanced acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). In 12 of 14 patients who had a specific mutation in the FLT3 gene and who were treated with PKC 412, the number of leukaemic blast cells in the blood decreased by more than 50 per cent. "This could be the start of truly targeted therapy for AML," said Dr Richard Stone, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts.

The Journal attended the 39th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held in Chicago, Illinois, from 31 May until 3 June, courtesy of Eli Lilly. It was attended by more than 25,000 cancer specialists