Last October she was put on a trial of Velcade and was apparently restored to normal.
BBC: NEWS | UK | England | Bradford | Women's legal bid for cancer drug
Other medicines, including multiple myeloma drug Velcade, from Millennium, and rheumatoid arthritis medicine Enbrel, from Amgen.
The data--and Adams' unwavering faith--persuaded Levin to make Velcade the centerpiece of Millennium's cancer program.
Now Adams is rushing to test Velcade on tumors of the colon and lung.
"Velcade is a testament to Julian's tenacity and brilliance, " says John Littlechild of HealthCare Ventures, a backer.
Velcade targeted an obscure complex of enzymes, called the proteasome, which acts as a kind of cellular maid.
In addition to these kinds of oral meds, the I V meds like velcade have climbed much higher.
In seven patients, Velcade caused their cancer to disappear entirely, even when measured by new, incredibly sensitive tests.
The drug makers say Velcade can prolong life by 18 to 24 months.
BBC: NEWS | UK | England | Bradford | Women's legal bid for cancer drug
Velcade, for instance, has posted promising but early results in several forms of lymphoma, lung cancer, and kidney cancer.
However, these glowing results have a glaring weakness: They don't compare Velcade against a standard treatment or a placebo.
Velcade, approved in 2003, and Revlimid, a thalidomide successor approved in 2006, are now backbones of myeloma treatment, doctors say.
"As with other treatments approved under our accelerated approval process, further studies are necessary for clarifying Velcade's clinical benefits, " McClellan said.
Some patients who were not helped by Velcade alone seemed to respond to a combination of the drug and traditional chemotherapy.
Take Millennium Pharmaceuticals (nasdaq: MLNM - news - people ), which makes the multiple myeloma drug Velcade .
Arriving at Infinity in October 2003, Adams started on his Velcade encore.
Infinity's chief scientist, chemist Julian Adams, also invented Velcade, from Millennium Pharmaceuticals (nasdaq: MLNM - news - people ).
Infinity's chief scientist, chemist Julian Adams, also invented Velcade, from Millennium Pharmaceuticals.
Giusti took Velcade in 2005 but stopped after a bone marrow transplant.
Millennium Chief Executive Mark Levin made Velcade his company's most-funded drug.
Velcade and its creator, Julian Adams , came with one such acquisition.
An initial human test of the combo--chemotherapy drug idarubicin and Millennium Pharmaceuticals' multiple myeloma drug Velcade--is under way at the University of Kentucky.
"The approval of Velcade illustrates FDA's commitment to providing patients with access to safe and effective drugs as quickly as possible, " he said.
Generally, another, larger trial would be required for FDA approval, but Gleevec and Velcade were both approved before such tests could be completed.
Analysts are watching for signs that Velcade can work in other diseases, and a trial in lung cancer could give them new information.
And now, thanks to Adams, Infinity has developed in record time another experimental drug to fight multiple myeloma, the same cancer targeted by Velcade.
Even before today's data was presented, however, some thought that getting Velcade in front of regulators sooner rather than later was a good idea.
However, even if Velcade is approved for patients with multiple myeloma who have failed on other drugs, Millennium won't be out of the woods.
Within the next few weeks, Millennium will announce a major pharmaceutical partner to market Velcade and last week trimmed its workforce by more than 25%.
Despite the new approvals, doctors like David Siegel still plan on typically starting patients with a combination of Velcade, Revlimid and a steroid called dexamethasone.
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