Venetoclax – a 30-year story. Q & A with clinician scientist Dr Mary Ann Anderson.

[AussieNeil]

'At the Leukaemia Foundation-hosted New Directions in Leukaemia Research (NDLR) conference in Brisbane in March, Dr Mary Ann Anderson, a clinician scientist at the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI), shared a story about the development of venetoclax (Venclexta TM). It involved research by thousands of people over 30 years resulting in a paradigm shift in the treatment of CLL that is “tangibly changing people’s lives”.'

Venetoclax – a 30-year story

1984: BCL2 protein discovered

2011: First patient dosed with venetoclax

2016: Venetoclax FDA-approved in the U.S.

2017: Venetoclax TGA-approved in Australia

“It’s decades and decades of work by very many clever and very intelligent people – chemists, structural biologists, basic science biologists, translational scientistsand clinicians. “It’s work at places like the WEHI and by industry like Abbvie and Genentech and in academic research hospitals like Peter Mac and Royal Melbourne.

“It’s a body of work that’s taken thousands of people, in a rich variety of backgrounds, to come to fruition.”

The full story can be found starting on page 4 of the June 2018 Leukaemia Foundation CLL-News: leukaemia.org.au/wp-content...

Neil

[Hidden]

See I read stuff like this and I think I wouldn't mind the high cost of medication if those thousands and thousands of clever, dedicated people were getting a big cut of the loot....not just big pharma.

Scott

Big Pharma = Worst Swear Word

[Yvbb]

Great info, Neil! Thank you so much for sharing.

Yvonne

[Mystic75]

Great read - thanks for posting!