Power3 Medical seeks patent for test to determine resistance to leukemia drug Gleevec

By Lisa Kerner

Erie, Pa., April 24 - Power3 Medical Products, Inc. filed a provisional application with the U.S. Patent Office for a test, a drug target and therapeutic design specifications with the potential to overcome resistance to Gleevec, a drug used to treat Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML), according to a news release.

The test, based on the company's proprietary proteomic platform, has 19 identified biomarkers that indicate which patients are resistant to, or who will build resistance to, imatinib mesylate (Gleevec).

Power3 said it can also offer drug design specifications to overcome identified drug resistance by enhancing the ability of Gleevec to bind to the BCR/ABL protein kinase in resistant CML cells, making them more sensitive to treatment.

The patent-pending test evaluates the concentrations of key biomarkers in initial diagnostic patient bone marrow aspirate samples to predict sensitivity or resistance to the drug prior to treatment, according to a company news release.

"We believe that Power3's research has led to a breakthrough in identifying and overcoming resistance to Gleevec in the treatment of CML," chairman and chief executive officer Steven B. Rash said in the news release.

Power3's test for and remedy to imatinib mesylate resistance was discussed at Experimental Biology 2006 held by the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology earlier this month. Findings will also be reviewed this week at the World Congress of OncoProteomics in San Francisco.

Houston-based Power3 is a proteomics company developing and commercializing early detection diagnostic tests for cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.

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