March clinical trial update for resistant GIST

AMN107 + Gleevec

Patient enrollment has been temporarily stopped while the protocol undergoes dose-related changes. The trial is expected to reopen for accrual soon at both Dana-Farber in Boston and Fox Chase in Philadelphia.

PTK787/ZK222584

Recently added to the Clinical Trials.gov database is a trial known as “PTK787/ZK222584 in the Treatment of Metastatic GISTs Resistant to Imatinib.” This is a phase II study being done at the University of Helsinki in Finland. This trial listed a start date of September 2004.

PTK787/ZK222584 was synthesized and developed by Novartis Pharma AG and Schering AG. It is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor and inhibits VEGF receptors as well as KIT and PDGFRB.

GLIVEC

Also just added to the Clinical Trials.gov database is a trial called “Open-Label Trial of Glivec with Unresectable or Metastatic Malignant Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors.” This study is designed to improve GIST treatment in several Central and Eastern European Countries. The rationale is to assess the clinical and biological activity of imatinib and to compare the data with historic data. This trial includes sites within Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia and Slovenia. Details can be found at the Web site, www.ClinicalTrials.gov.