Novartis' Glivec gets Swiss approval

Novartis' new orally-active drug for chronic myeloid leukemia, Glivec(imatinib), has been granted marketing approval in Switzerland for CML patients in blast-crisis and accelerated phases and in the chronic phase after interferon alfa has failed. This is the drug's first approval since being cleared for marketing in the USA, where it is known as Gleevec (Marketletter May 21).

The drug was due to be available for prescription in Switzerland on June 27, according to Novartis, which added that it will be included on the list of reimbursable pharmaceutical specialties in the country as of July 15. In a statement, Novartis acknowledged the relapse rate seen in patients in the blast crisis stage treated with the drug (see page 28), but added that new findings on the mechanism of relapse, published recently in Science, will help the company develop strategies to overcome this phenomenon. The drug is already being tested in higher doses and in combination with other therapeutics.