New pill eliminated leukemia in 30 pc of patients: Study

LOS ANGELES, Dec 3: Nearly 30 percent of patients with a common form of leukemia have no traces of the disease after being treated with an experimental pill made by Novartis AG, researchers said.

The Swiss pharmaceutical giant released updated results from a 532-patient Phase II trial of STI571, which has been given the brand name Glivec, at a meeting of the American Society of Hematology in San Francisco, last evening.

"Last year we reported that patients in the trial had their blood counts return to normal. This year we are reporting, with a much larger patient population, that nearly 30 percent have no detectable leukemia," said Dr Brian Druker, a study investigator based at Oregon Health Sciences University.

The once-daily oral drug works by inhibiting a critical protein that Causes Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML), a deadly disease that affects up to 23,000 people in the United States at any given time.

CML is caused by a chromosome defect in blood cells that creates an abnormal version of an enzyme that causes white blood cells to proliferate uncontrollably.

Researchers suggested that once glivec starts being used in newly-diagnosed patients it may have the potential of eliminating the disease for long periods, or even permanently.

Novartis has said it expects the drug to become a first-line therapy, used as an alternative to painful bone marrow transplants and alpha-interferon, a more toxic, injectable treatment.

The open-label study, led by researchers at the Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, texas involves patients in the earliest stage of the disease who failed treatment with interferon alpha regimens, a common treatment for patients who cannot undergo bone marrow transplants.

At three months, preliminary results from 388 patients found that 37 percent of patients reaching so-called cytogenetic remission — a significant drop in the number of white blood cells carrying the genetic mutation that causes the disease, including 13 percent who saw those levels drop to zero.

The six-month results for 290 patients suggest an overall response rate — both partial and complete — of 56 percent, Novartis said.

Glivec is one of a new class of anti-cancer drugs that selectively target genetic defects without causing the severe side effects associated with existing chemotherapy.

Researchers said the most common side effect of the new drug is nausea. CML progresses over several years from the the chronic stage, which typically lasts three to four years, to an accelerated phase and eventually to the generally lethal "blast crisis" stage.

In a trial of patients with CML in the accelerated phase, four weeks of preliminary data from 154 patients showed an overall blood cell count response rate of 78 percent, with 14 percent achieving complete remission, Novartis said.

A third Phase II study of the drug in patients with CML in the "blast crisis" stage, preliminary data showed a response rate of nearly 50 percent in those who had not received prior treatment and 33-38 percent in patients who had received other therapy.

"The median survival has been eight to 10 months, compared with a usual three months for these patients," said Dr Charles Sawyers, Professor of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles, the lead center for the "blast crisis" trial.

He said 30 percent of the patients with this advanced stage of the disease are still alive after being treated in the trial that began just over a year ago.

Novartis is expected to submit clinical data on glivec in marketing applications to regulators in Europe and the United States during the first quarter of next year. (REUTERS)

Indian Ambassadors in Mideast to discuss
situation in region

JERUSALEM, Dec 3: India will soon hold a meeting of its Ambassadors in the middle eastern countries to discuss the situation in the region, which has witnessed renewed clashes between Israelis and Palestinians in the last two months.

"India has very serious interests and concerns in the region...We are soon having a meeting of some of our ambassadors in the region to exchange notes and ideas and to get their assessment of the situation," K V Rajan, Secretary (East) in the External Affairs Ministry said.

Ambassadors from Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, head of mission in Egypt and India’s representative in Gaza would hold talks with senior External Affairs Ministry officials on the situation in the Middle East, Rajan, who is currently leading a delegation to hold annual consultations with Israeli Foreign Ministry officials, told reporters here.

The meetings of the Indian diplomats would follow the delegation’s meeting with Israeli and Palestinian officials, he said.

Indian and Israeli officials would discuss bilateral relations and other issues of concern for both sides.

To a question on whether Palestine has sought India’s participation in the proposed un force to be deployed in West Bank and Gaza, he said the first step was to get both sides to agree on the request.

"As far as we know that un has itself pointed that without such an agreement it is difficult to come forward but this is an issue which is on the table and I think it is being discussed," Rajan said.

"As far as we are concerned we would welcome any proposal which brings about any restoration of trust and confidence and brings about revival of peace process," Rajan said.

Palestinians supporters have introduced a draft resolution in the 15-member Security Council that calls for 2,000 UN observers to protect civilians in the West Bank and Gaza.

When asked about cooperation in the field of counter-terrorism between India and Israel, he said a joint working group had been set up on the issue but it had not met as yet.

"We expect the meeting to take place very soon," he said but clarified that discussions on counter-terrorism was not the main objective of the current round of discussions. The fifth annual meeting is part of the yearly consultations between Foreign Ministries of the two countries aimed at assessing bilateral matters and discussing various issues of mutual interest. The last meet was held in New Delhi.

Issues discussed during External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh’s meeting with his counterpart, the then Foreign Minister David Levy, in July would also be taken up during the meet, he added. (PTI)

Lankan AG denies Advani’s statement on Prabhakaran

COLOMBO, Dec 3: Sri Lanka’s Attorney General has denied that a Indian team, which visited Lanka last month, had pressed for the extradition of LTTE chief V Prabhakaran.

Quoting K C Kamalasabyason, local daily "Sunday Leader" today said that the three-member Indian team has not made any formal or informal request about Prabhakaran’s extradition during its meeting with him.

But yet another Sri Lankan newspaper, "Sunday Times" said that Lankan officials have `reviewed’ an earlier Indian request for Prabhakaran’s extradition.

"This was formal procedural exercise and was not a specific request made during the team’s visit. There were many other important issues discussed," it quoted officials as saying.

Home Minister L K Advani told the Parliament on Nov 30 that a team of officials from Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency, (MDMA), has visited Sri Lanka between Nov 13 and 23 and met Sri Lanka’ Attorney General and Solicitor-General to press for Prabhakaran’s extradition.

During the course of his reply to a debate in Rajya Sabha, he said that the Indian Government was keen on the extradition of LTTE leader.

India first made a request for Prabhakaran’s extradition in 1993 after he was identified as the chief conspirator in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case by the Special Investigation Team, (SIT), that probed the killing of the former Prime Minister. The Indian request was pending since then.

On the Indian Government’s request for Prabhakaran’s extradition, Sunday Leader said the Sri Lankan Government has already informed India on previous occasions that its writ does not run in Northern Vanni region, where the LTTE leader presumably lives.

Meanwhile, while publishing Kamalasabyason’s denial prominently, the newspaper said that Advani’s statement, coming close on the heels of Norwegian moves to kick start a peace talks between Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE, was seen as a "subtle move" to thwart the peace process.

Reacting to the newspaper’s comment, Indian officials here said that the visit of the MDMA delegation has nothing to do with the on going peace efforts.

"Linking of MDMA’s visit with the peace process was nothing but an imaginative contextualisation", they said.

The Sunday Leader further said that during its meeting with Kamalasabyason, the MDMA delegation had also requested for interrogation of ‘Nixon’ an LTTE suspect in custody, who was allegedly involved in Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination.

The Sri Lankan authorities have denied the Indian request for direct interrogation of Nixon but recorded his statement on the questions put forwarded by MDMA officials, it said. (PTI)

Nepal to woo IT firms with incentives

KATHMANDU, Dec 3: The Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal, known more for its tourism industry, aims to woo Information Technology (IT) companies with a host of incentives, officials said today.

"Our goal is to create an atmosphere for the development of information technology and develop software for export," Keshav Upadhyaya, an official at the Ministry of Science and Technology told Reuters.

Upadhyaya said private software promoters would be provided infrastructure facilities at an IT park and given incentives to promote the export of software.

Nepal hopes to earn 10 billion Nepali rupees (134.5 million dollars) from software exports in five years from now, official said. Currently, Nepal is estimated to be exporting software worth 100 million rupees mainly to the United States, Europe and Japan, the official said.

Upadhyaya said the Government would give duty concessions on imports of computers that currently have up to 21 percent customs duty.

A venture capital fund would also be created to give financial support to the exporters, he said.

Officials said the Government would give extra grants to universities to produce IT graduates and introduce computer education in schools.

The concept of electronic governance would be introduced and the use of internet, now limited to the national capital and some business centres, would be expanded to rural areas. (REUTERS)

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