The August issue of the journal Nature Medicine published research from the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston and the University of Texas which found that leukemia drug Gleevec may cause serious heart damage. Their research found that Gleevec caused heart failure in 10 people. Gleevec is made by Swiss drug maker Novartis. The Nature Medicine article also warns that other drugs in the same class, tyrosine kinase inhibitors, may damage the heart. Gleevec laywer Jeff Rasansky is concerned with this development.

The research team, lead by Thomas Force, studied the 10 human patients, who developed heart failure while taking Gleevec at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. The group then tested Gleevec in lab dishes and in mice. They found that the drug appeared to be toxic to cardiac cells. When given to mice, Gleevec caused heart failure through left ventricular dysfunction. Gleevec lawyer Jeff Rasansky wants potential victims to take note of Force's warning that Gleevec patients should be followed closely for symptoms of heart damage.

Gleevec lawyers watched as the FDA approved Gleevec in 2001 as an oral treatment for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) -- a rare life-threatening form of cancer. The FDA reviewed the marketing application for Gleevec in less than three months under its "accelerated approval" regulations. The 2001 approval of Gleevec for treating the three phases of CML was based on three separate single arm studies in about 1,000 patients.

When Novartis began to sell Gleevec in 2001, it made headlines because it stopped chronic myeloid leukemia in most Gleevec patients. Some studies show Gleevec keeps between 80 and 90 percent of CML patients cancer-free for a minimum of five years.

Of the 4,600 new CML patients diagnosed each year, about half of them die.

Gleevec, (in Europe, "Glivec,") is also approved for gastrointestinal stromal tumors or GIST, a rare type of stomach cancer. Gleevec thwarts the effects of a the protein Bcr-Abl, which causes the malignant behavior of white blood cells in CML.

At the time of the approval, the FDA?s acting commissioner, Bernard A. Schwetz, D.V.M., Ph.D. said, "Further studies are needed to evaluate whether Gleevec provides an actual clinical benefit, such as improved survival, as well as to examine its effect when used in early stage disease.? Gleevec lawyer Jeff Rasansky is particularly concerned with the FDA approval process for Gleevec.

In 2001, Dr. Schwetz also said that it was important for physicians and patients to understand the then-currently known Gleevec side effects, and to realize that additional side effects caused by Gleevec may be discovered with more follow-up of patients in ongoing studies. Gleevec lawyers have been following FDA statements.

Personal injury lawyer Jeff Rasansky warns that patients should be aware of current research implicating Gleevec in heart damage and heart failure. A serious and deadly condition, heart failure kills up to 50% of patients within five years.

If you feel you were a victim of Gleevec heart damage, personal injury lawyer Jeffrey H. Rasansky is here to help.