'Scary' drug trial gives a perfect result

By KATHERINE HOBY

When a telephone call two days ago confirmed that Carol Clarke's cancer had gone, her warm hazel eyes squeezed shut in a moment of quiet prayer.

The Rotorua woman was the first New Zealander to start testing a new leukaemia drug. She was diagnosed a year ago.

On Thursday afternoon, after six months on the drug, she was told that her bone marrow was clear.

The drug, Glivec or STI571, is being hailed as a breakthrough in cancer treatment by doctors worldwide.

The doctor in charge of the New Zealand part of the trials has described it as "phenomenal."

But it was not known when the drug might be available to the public, or what the cost might be.

Early last year Mrs Clarke, then 52, suffered chronic fatigue and sweating. "I knew something wasn't right," she said. "I could just feel it in myself."

She was told three weeks later that she had a form of cancer.

Mrs Clarke remembers the exact moment that she was diagnosed.

"It was April 17, 2000, at 4.30 pm and they told me I had chronic myeloid leukaemia. I had previously been in 100 per cent health and I was devastated."

One of the options for those who have this form of cancer is a bone marrow transplant. But Mrs Clarke's brother - the only candidate - was not a match.

She was told that if her cancer went untreated, she could expect to live for three to four years.

Then in October she was told that a new drug was being tested overseas and possibly in New Zealand.

"My husband and I grabbed it. Our thought was we'll do anything that might help," she said.

"I was the first on the trial in New Zealand and that was scary in itself. But on the other hand I wanted to live."

Dr Peter Browett, principal investigator for the New Zealand branch of the drug study, is excited with the initial results from the trials.

"This is a dramatic step forward in cancer treatments," he said.

"Chronic myeloid leukaemia is a small player compared with the likes of breast cancer but for the first time we are able to target the enzyme causing the cancer, and that is phenomenal."

Three other people in New Zealand are also testing Glivec.

Associate Professor Ingrid Winship, associate dean for research, at the faculty of medical and health sciences at the University of Auckland, acknowledged Glivec was "a drug with promise."

But she said the trial would need to be well monitored.

Chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) is a blood cancer and affects 1 or 2 people per 100,000 population each year.

Glivec has been shown to cause the death of leukaemia cells that contain the abnormal Philadelphia chromosome, while leaving normal cells untouched.

After her six months on the drug, the Philadelphia chromosome count in Mrs Clarke's bone marrow had fallen from 100 per cent to zero.