Novartis files for cancer drug approval

Novartis has announced it has filed approval requests in Europe and the United States for a drug that can be used in the treatment of four different types of cancer.

The company has said that Glivec, which can be used as treatment for rare types of cancer, is an example of how different forms of an illness can have similar treatments.

“Thanks to the success of targeted therapies like Glivec, these filings speak to the fundamental shift that we are seeing in the approach to cancer treatment,” said Diane Young, vice president and global head of Clinical Development at Novartis Oncology.

“One day, cancer may no longer be classified by site, or even by single genes or proteins, but instead by the way in which the cancer is expressed. This could potentially give rise to more targeted treatment options such as Glivec.”

The diseases that the Glivec drug was found to be effective against were the solid tumour dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, a tumour found in the skin of the chest, abdomen or leg, certain forms of myeloproliferative disorders, hypereosinophilic syndrome and systemic mastocytosis (SM).

The latter three are all hematologic diseases and although rare, all four forms of the cancers can be life threatening. Novartis said that for many sufferers, there is currently no approved treatment.

© Adfero Ltd