Gleevec tablets just as good as capsules

Novartis, maker of Gleevec (imatinib), or Glivec outside the U.S., is planning to market the cancer-fighting drug in pill form. Since the first chronic myeloid leukemia patients began taking Gleevec more than 4 years ago, the pills have come in a hard gelatin capsule, golden orange in color, containing 100 mg. of the targeted chemotherapy.

Novartis has been testing Gleevec in two new forms — a single 400 mg. film-coated tablet, and a scored filmcoated tablet, 100 mg. in size.

The Basel, Switzerland-based company tested the new Gleevec tablets in 20 healthy volunteers. Blood samples determined imatinib plasma concentrations.

Conclusions: The new film-coated tablet formulations (100 and 400 mg) of imatinib are equivalent with the hard gelatin capsules, providing the full therapeutic effect of the capsule but also offering improved dosing flexibility with the scored 100 mg tablet and greater dosing convenience with the higher-strength 400 mg. tablet.