W. Stratford

This work is very exciting, said W. Stratford May, Jr., M.D., Ph.D., vice chairman of medical and scientific affairs for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.The effectiveness of this new therapy in specifically killing human leukemia cells is a significant treatment advance..

CML progresses through three distinct phases : the chronic phase, the accelerated phase, and blast crisis, which are marked by a progressive increase in the number of white blood cells.As a patient moves through these stages, the disease usually becomes increasingly refractory to therapy, and therefore, more difficult to treat.

Early clinical trial results of STI-571 were presented at the American Society of Hematology conference in December.