CAS Chemistry Research Report: A Decade Later Human Genome Discoveries Spur Growth of Cancer Treatments

COLUMBUS, Ohio, August 24, 2010 - Today, leukemia patients who have struggled with cancer therapy
resistance and intolerance will now have more options thanks to targeted drug
therapy. Such new treatment options are due, in part, to a rapid increase in
journal and patent publications following the discovery of Gleevec, as
reported by Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), the world's authority for
chemical information.

Since President Clinton announced that the draft sequence of the human
genome was completed in 2000, research about specific types of cancers grew
exponentially. Fifty years of cancer and Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML)
drug treatments are examined in the CAS Chemistry Research Report: Human
Genome Discoveries Spur Growth of Cancer Treatments. CAS researchers
confirmed that Gleevec succeeded as a first-generation drug that targeted
CML, as originally reported by Novartis and Oregon Health and Science
researchers. Second- and third-generation CML-targeted drugs benefited from
Gleevec's patent success and continued to propel the growth of CML research
and patent publications.

    Other important findings from the CAS report include:

    - During the last 20 years, cancer therapy journal publications grew 179
      percent, while patent publications grew 318 percent.
    - From 1990 to 2009, journal article publications about CML treatment
      expanded 196 percent. At the same time, patent publications exploded
      with 700 percent growth.
    - The World Intellectual Patent Organization (WIPO) is the leading patent
      authority for Gleevec use in CML.
    - U.S. researchers authored three times as many journal publications for
      Gleevec as any other country.
    - In 2009, second-generation drugs Tasigna and Sprycel displaced Gleevec
      as single medications for CML, with a combined 41-fold increase in
      journal publications and a concomitant increase in patent publications
      compared to Gleevec.

"The results of the analysis outlined in the CAS Chemistry Research
Report further validate that we are on the right course," said Dr. Brian
Druker, Director, Oregon Health & Science University Knight Cancer Institute.
"The accelerated growth in CML-related publications following Gleevec
provides yet more evidence that the targeting approach opened up new paths of
exploration for the medical and scientific communities. Based on this success
we are now optimistic that all cancers could be controlled with drugs like
Gleevec."

To view the report, visit:
www.cas.org/newsevents/pressroom/report.html

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Donna Jenkins, +1-614-447-3727, cas-pr at cas.org