Personalised medicine has been highlighted as an extremely promising therapy for cancer patients in a peer-reviewed scientific publication called Blood. 

Personalised medicines are drugs tailored specifically to a patient’s genes, that are designed to work far more efficiently and with reduced side effects. Approved drugs such as the billion dollar anti-breast cancer drug, Herceptin, are a good example of an effective personalised medicine.

The article published in Blood emphasizes the need for personalised medicines to treat cancers which have limited treatment options, such as chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML). 

CML is cancer of the blood and bone marrow characterised by the overproduction of undifferentiated white blood cells. Currently, whilst there are effective treatments for some patients, there is no cure for CML.

Leukaemia can develop in anyone, of any age, at any time, and CML specifically is most likely to occur over the age of 50.  In 2006, approximately 2,869 Australians are projected to have been diagnosed with leukaemia; the equivalent of 8 people every day (Australian Leukemia Foundation). 

The first line of treatment for the majority of CML cancer patients is a drug called Gleevec.  Unfortunately, an increasing number of CML patients are developing resistance to Gleevec meaning that it is no longer effective in keeping the cancer under control, resulting in a need for an alternative therapy. 

Scientists have new evidence to show that resistance to Gleevec and similar drugs is caused by a particular genetic mutation (T315I mutation) associated with the cause of CML. This mutation is becoming increasingly common in patients. The challenge has been to find a personalised medicine that can fight off cancer caused by a specific genetic mutation.

In the October Blood publication, an accelerated stage CML patient who had developed a resistance to Gleevec therapy as a result of the T315I mutation, was successfully treated with Ceflatonin®. After ten months of therapy, genetic tests revealed that the patient’s level of T315I genetic mutation decreased from 100 per cent to 27 per cent and the patient’s health improved.

Ceflatonin® is a new personalised therapy for CML patients in development by an Australian-US biotechnology company called ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals.  It is currently being tested in patients in clinical trials which are due for completion next year.

Dr Greg Collier, the Australian scientist who heads up ChemGenex said “we have strong evidence that Ceflatonin® works via different mechanism to the current therapies and provides a promising alternative for the growing CML patient populations”.

In a futuristic scenario, doctors would take a saliva swab and place it on a gene chip diagnostic to test for the T315I gene mutation. Immediate DNA test results would determine whether the CML patient tests positive for T315I and is suitable for the Ceflatonin therapy. “This would be personalised medicine at its best,” said Dr Collier.