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Backgrounder Generics

Generics have been part of the prescriptions in cancer therapy for quite some time now. And the numbers grow: According to recent figures mentioned in Cancer Work in a total global oncology drugs market approaching $100 billion, revenues from generics are growing at twice the rate of the market as a whole. They will reach more than $20 billion by 2018.

Now one of the first targeted therapies, Imatinib (Glivec®/Gleevec®), becomes generic: The patent expired or will expire for the treatment of Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia (CML) in different countries. Even though the patent for Imatinib in GIST isn’t running out until approximately 2021, generic Imatinib might be offered to GIST patients as well. That is why we want to provide you with some valuable background information about generics and answer some of the questions you might have.

Read more in the pdf Generics Backgrounder (252 KB)


The CML Community/CML  Advocates Network has been closely following the developments for the past 3 years on TKI generics and has put together a webinar to summarize the current status.
The webinar answers some important questions, e.g. What are generics, and do they differentiate from innovator products? Which generic products of CML Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors exist? What do we know about efficacy and safety? What information on CML generics is available to patients? What has the patient advocacy community done so far? What can patients and patient advocacy groups do about CML generics?

With the Glivec patent about to expire in most countries please click here and watch this important webinar with the latest updates.

See http://www.cmladvocates.net/110-news/725-webinar-generic-tkis-in-cml

 

Backgrounder Immuno-Oncology

Immuno-oncology (IO) therapy is a new (and old) way to treat cancer by activating your immune system in the hope that it will attack your tumour.

One of the earliest treatments for cancer was a kind of immune therapy. Coley’s Toxins was a soup of bacterial toxins that was injected directly into tumours over a century ago. This caused a great deal of inflammation and unfortunately sickness, but did lead to the cure of a small number of people.

A number of other immune therapies have been developed and trialled over the last century, but side effects, cost and variable benefits have limited their usefulness.

More recently, newer types of immune therapies (also called immuno-oncology or IO therapies) have been proving successful in some types of cancer. For example, results from early trials of immuno-oncology for advanced skin cancer (melanoma) and lung cancer have been encouraging, and some of these drugs have already been approved for use in some countries. Other types of immune therapies including vaccines are currently in trials for kidney cancer.