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Original imatinib/Glivec packaging?

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On the off chance that someone treated with imatinib/Glivec/Gleevec from the early/mid 2000s has kept their imatinib packaging, please contact me. There is an upcoming project that will feature the 'story of CML' and we are trying to access 'artefacts' from that era.

Sandy

 

Sandy, I posted this over there across the pond.  You should have better luck. 

Buzz
https://communityview.lls.org/statuses/8698

 

Hi Buzz,

Thanks so much for trying that. I have contacted a couple of clinicians here in the UK as well as Brian Druker so I am hoping that will be fruitful. I am now regretting that I did not save my original packaging from the phase 11 trial in Portland OR, as the container label had STI571 printed on it... it contained capsules rather than tablets so that was a bit of history! I think I probably lost them due to several house moves we have made over the last 20 years.

I have also contacted Novartis (UK and EU) and would be amazed if they have not kept anything. This is an incredible story which really deserves to be shared and cherished. 

Sandy

Hi Sandy,

We have been in contact.

I still have packaging for Glivec from 2007 when first dx plus a lot of other historical things like records of bloods on that dreadful day when given the bad news.Novartis changed tand updated the packaging in 2014 and in 2017 they produced their own generic imatinib named Sandoz in UK following expiry of their patent.Glivec gained FDA approval in USA in 2001 and presume it was then approved by EMA and then NICE so was it first used as a licensed drug in UK in 2002 ?Apart from yourself does anyone else on Forum go back that far in terms of dx and use of Glivec nearly 20 years ago?

If anyone is interested in the history of the development of Glivec, or in USA Gleevec, (in its experimental formSTI571) the best source would seem to be the book "The Philadelphia Chromosome" by Jessica Wapner.Time Magazine ran a big feature in the May 28,2001 version on "Drugs that fight Cancer" with a front page that had a pile of orange pills that were termed magic cancer bullets.There was book published in June 2003,  288 pages long, titled "Magic Cancer Bullet:How a tiny orange pill may rewrite Medical History" by Daniel Vasella  ( CEO of Novartis) and Robert Slater. If you play around on Google and put in for instance  "the Gleevec story" various media and publications come up.

In terms of pricing Novartis set at about the same level as that of interferon alpha which was the previous treatment but in later years prior to patent expiry in USA hiked it up to an annual cost of nearly $120,000 per annum.Novartis had many subsequent legal battles in India over patent issues and came off second best it seems.In UK pricing seems to have been better regulated according to contracts between the NHS and the producer of the drug but it still came out at about £2000 per month of 400mg treatment.There were issues over hospital pharmacies having to pay VAT on outpatient prescriptions and also some hospital pharmacies doing cross border trading in the EU of Glivec so as to make profits.

The CML story in UK would not be complete without reference to the introduction of the first of the second line tki s Dasatinib/Sprycel;those who failed Glivec had to apply for emergency use to their local health board area (there were prior to CCG s over 150 of these in UK)-it was at the time a postcode lottery until NICE eventually approved use. Then we had the Cancer Drug Fund set up for applicants who wished to use subsequent second line tkis-another issue to cause patient stress.

Has anyone else done any searching around of this very important episode in medical/social history?

Best wishes

John

Thanks John,

I have all those links and have forwarded them to the curator of the exhibition. Of course this will be about cancer rather than stand alone CML. That may happen at some future date, but early 2000 (and a few years before that) was a significant time in the history of cancer therapy and research and represents a paradigm shift as they say. Unfortunately the Phase 1 and 2 trial containers had to be returned by all of us who were enrolled in the C/trials. That is why I do not have mine.... I would have kept it if I had been allowed. Imatinib or STI571 as it was called then, came in capsule form. Later it was changed to hard tablets.

I will contact you about your donated Glivec packaging. Thanks again,

Sandy

Hi, could anyone tell me pls if the branded Glivec is still available in the UK in special cases? If generic Imatinib does not work and you cannot take any second line TKIs (and asciminib as well) due to skin disease. Is it possible to return to the branded Glivec? 
I will be grateful for any reaponse.

thanks a lot

Julia