Domestically developed new drug for leukemia patients approved

China's first domestically-developed medicine targeting drug-resistant chronic myeloid leukemia has been approved by the national authority.

The drug, Olverembatinib developed by Ascentage Pharma, doesn't only fill a blank in the medical field but helps solve a social problem, said Chen Kaixian, vice director of the national key project for new drug innovation.

Chronic myeloid leukemia is a clonal stem cell disorder that is characterized by the acquired chromosomal translocation BCR-ABL.

The new drug is a third-generation BCR-ABL inhibitor.

Mutation related with BCR-ABL is a major cause for drug resistance, covering one fourth of resistance cases. Currently, patients with such mutation have developed drug resistance to first and second generations of BCR-ABL inhibitors.

"It is a milestone new drug, which is very meaningful to both patients and doctors," said Dr Huang Xiaojun, a leading expert in the drug's clinical trial and director of Peking University Institute of Hematology.