Ribavirin - Hope for Leukemia Patients at Last

ANTIVIRAL DRUG BECOMES PROMISING CANCER FIGHTER

A commonly used antiviral drug that is already used to fight hepatitis C and HIV could also be used to treat thirty percent of cancer types, according to a new study conducted on patients in Canada.

Doctors in Montreal tested the antiviral drug Ribavirin on 11 patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), who had undergone several other types of treatment which had failed. Nine of the patients saw their conditions improve within a matter of months, with one achieving complete remission and two achieving partial remission.

Frank Klamph, was weak and ill with AML only two months ago. After taking part in the study to test the experimental treatment, he achieved complete remission and left hospital to go scuba diving in Florida.

The researchers, led by Dr. Katherine Borden,at the Institute For Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) of the Universite de Montreal, say that Ribavirin works by suppressing activity of the eIF4E gene, which becomes overactive in 30% of cancer types and over produces a protein that turns cells cancerous.

"We had remissions in several of our test patients...which is completely unheard of with their type of cancer. And,in another subgroup of patients, we had dramatic drops in the number of leukemia cells, including patients where we could no longer or barely detect any leukemia cells in their blood." Dr Borden admitted she is excited at the possibilities.

Dr Brian Leber, also involved in the study,says the results are exciting because Ribavirin is already an established drug. It has been available for a decade.So unlike other promising, untried cancer therapies that are in early stages of development,this is a drug we could use right away."These are remarkable results for people with very advanced leukemia. It is a convenient oral treatment that is well tolerated and can be taken at home. That is an exciting development."

Dr Borden says the next challenge is to combine the drug with chemotherapy to improve it's effectiveness even more and work on ways to combat possible development of resistance to the drug.

On behalf of cancer patients and their families everywhere,'WELL DONE' and thankyou.