UPI Version - Novartis seeks Gleevac OK in 4 cancers

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Novartis seeks Gleevac OK in 4 cancers

NEW YORK, April 10 (UPI) -- Novartis is seeking approval in the United

States and Europe to market cancer drug Gleevac for four additional

cancer

types.

According to a report Monday in the Wall Street Journal, Novartis has

filed

for approval with the Food and Drug Administration and with European

regulators for expanded use of Gleevac to treat a skin cancer known as

dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans; and three blood cancers,

hypereosinophilic

syndrome, systemic mastocytosis and certain types of myeloproliferative

disorders, the WSJ report said.

Gleevac is currently approved to treat chronic myeloid leukemia and a

type

of stomach cancer known as GIST, the report said.

Because the cancers for which Novartis is seeking additional approval

are so

rare, the company was unable to study Gleevac in thousands of patients

as

the FDA normally requires, but instead has submitted data from a series

of

small clinical trials conducted by the Swiss drug company and by

independent

researchers.

Novartis' latest filings reflect a shift in how cancer should be

treated,

based on the belief that there are " hundreds of subgroups of cancer

based

more on genetic makeup than on location, " the WSJ reported.

Thus, cancer treatment is starting to emphasize the genetic mutations

involved in a specific cancer case, rather than on the organ in which

the

cancer is located, the report said.