Cancer Pill May Effect Fertility in Women
Posted on: Thursday, 6 March 2008, 10:30 CST
According to new research, use of the cancer drug Gleevec may cause fertility complications in some women.Dr. Constantinos Christopoulos of the Amalia Fleming General Hospital in Athens and colleagues published the recent study of the drug, generically known as imatinib, in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The team studied the case of a 30-year-old woman with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). After taking Gleevec for two years, the woman stopped menstruating. They also noted a reduction of eggs in her ovaries after her periods stopped.
After being diagnosed with cancer the woman terminated a pregnancy . Her dosage had been raised from 400 to 600 milligrams six months before her periods started to become unusually light or irregular, according to the researchers.
“These findings suggest that prolonged administration of imatinib may have profound effects on female fertility," the Christopoulos team wrote.
"The true incidence, possible dose dependence, and reversibility of imatinib-induced ovarian failure should be examined in future studies."
Developed by Novartis Oncology, Gleevec was approved by the FDA as a treatment for CML in May 2001. It was touted as the first approved drug to be able to directly turn off the signal of a protein known to cause a cancer.
Dr. Jay Brooks, chairman of hematology/oncology at Ochsner Health System in Baton Rouge, La., noted that the average age of CML is 67.
"The advantages of this drug clearly outweigh the disadvantages," he said.
---
On the Net:
New England Journal of Medicine
National Cancer Institute: Imatinib mesylate (Gleevec®)
Novartis Oncology
Gleevec Home Page
Source: redOrbit Staff and Wire Reports
Related Articles
- Innovive's Cancer Drug Found Effective Against CML
- Clinical Data Supporting Development of ChemGenex's Ceflatonin(R) in Imatinib-Resistant CML Published in Cancer
- Novartis Leukemia Drug Shows Long-Term Effectiveness
- Researchers Warn of Pregnancy Drug Cancer Link
- Wantagh Man Trying to Persuade Pharmaceutical Companies to Give Him Access to an Experimental Drug: Cancer Patient in a Bind
- Mills Breast Cancer Institute: Woman's Vision Becoming a Reality
- Immune Drug May Prevent Fetal Infection
- FDA Links Eczema Drugs, Cancer Risk
- Celebrex Could Help Fight Breast Cancer
- Detecting Breast Cancer: An Image Problem
Rating: 3.1 / 5 (7 votes)
 |
 |
Rate this article:
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds