Effect of food, type of food, and time of food intake on deferasirox bioavailability: recommendations for an optimal deferasirox administration regimen.

Deferasirox (ICL670) is representative of a new class of tridentate iron chelators, formulated as tablets for dispersion. Deferasirox has exhibited high potency and a clinically manageable safety profile in preclinical models and in an extensive clinical program. The effect of food and time of food intake on the pharmacokinetics of deferasirox was investigated in healthy volunteers and patients with transfusional hemosiderosis.

Relative response of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes and other transfusion-dependent anaemias to deferasirox (ICL670): a 1-yr prospective study.

Objectives/methods: This 1-yr prospective phase II trial evaluated the efficacy of deferasirox in regularly transfused patients aged 3-81 yrs with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS; n = 47), Diamond-Blackfan anaemia (DBA; n = 30), other rare anaemias (n = 22) or beta-thalassaemia (n = 85). Dosage was determined by baseline liver iron concentration (LIC).

Results: In patients with baseline LIC > or = 7 mg Fe/g dry weight, deferasirox initiated at 20 or 30 mg/kg/d produced statistically significant decreases in LIC (P < 0.

Randomized phase II trial of deferasirox (Exjade, ICL670), a once-daily, orally-administered iron chelator, in comparison to deferoxamine in thalassemia patients with transfusional iron overload.

Background And Objectives: Iron accumulation is an inevitable consequence of chronic blood transfusions and results in serious complications in the absence of chelation treatment to remove excess iron. Deferoxamine (Desferal, DFO) reduces morbidity and mortality although the administration schedule of slow, parenteral infusions several days each week limits compliance and negatively affects long-term outcome. Deferasirox (Exjade, ICL670) is an oral chelator with high iron-binding potency and selectivity.

Central nervous system failure in patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia lymphoid blast crisis and Philadelphia chromosome positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia treated with imatinib (STI-571).

Isolated central nervous system (CNS) relapse occurred in 5 out of 24 patients (20.8%) with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) lymphoid blast crisis (2), Philadelphia (Ph) chromosome positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) (2) or CML with biphenotypic markers (1) treated on imatinib mesylate (IM) protocols at our institution. CNS relapse occurred despite peripheral blood (5) and bone marrow (3) complete responses.

Imatinib treatment: specific issues related to safety, fertility, and pregnancy.

Imatinib (Gleevec) (formerly STI571) has demonstrated high levels of efficacy in chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) and gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) and has been used in more than 12,000 patients participating in clinical trials. Experience from clinical trials with imatinib has largely demonstrated the drug to be well tolerated in humans. Common side effects, usually manageable, include nausea, rash, superficial edema, myelosuppression, muscle cramps, and elevated liver transaminases.

William James West (1794-1848): abdominal surgeon and distraught father.

William West was an early-nineteenth-century successful small-town surgeon-apothecary who took a major role in the local movement for medical reform. He published the first series of ovariotomies in England in 1837. His son suffered from a type of infantile spasm which West described in the Lancet in 1841, and which is now known as West's syndrome.

Practical management of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia receiving imatinib.

The introduction of imatinib, a specific inhibitor of the Bcr-Abl tyrosine kinase, has dramatically changed the management of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). More than 10,000 patients worldwide have been treated with imatinib in clinical trials, and a large body of information has accumulated about the use of this drug. The purpose of this article is to review practical guidelines in regard to optimal dosing, monitoring, managing common side effects such as myelosuppression, and potential drug interactions.